Celeb chef’s chain files for creditor protection

Industry ‘mistreated,’ Mcewan says

Celebrity chef Mark Mcewan has filed for creditor protection, saying Ontario’s strict COVID restrictions have crippled his business empire.

“They have just so mistreated the food service business — try to tell me that my restaurant at 50 per cent capacity with all sorts of protocols in place is not safer than a Costco or a Walmart,” said Mcewan, who is based in Toronto.

While big box stores were able to maintain a presence for customers, Mcewan decried being forced to at first shut down and subsequently scale back capacity at his six restaurants and two food halls, depriving him and 200 employees of income.

Coupled with reduced demand at his catering unit, the company lost one-third of its revenue in 2020 compared to 2019 and more than doubled its losses.

He has tweeted frequently that Premier Doug Ford had to rethink the shutdown mandate.

“Who else in the restaurant industry is MAD AS HELL??!! Put your big boy pants on, DOUG FORD,” he tweeted last May.

With reduced revenue from the majority of his businesses for so long — he still has some cookbook and television income — Mcewan Enterprises Inc. says it will now be out of cash by the end of October, according to court records. Creditor protection has been granted to the umbrella company for Bymark, three Fabbrica locations, Diwan, One Restaurant as well as the food retail operations at the Shoppes at Don Mills, Yonge & Bloor and TD Centre.

The province’s lockdown just exacerbated an already challenging situation for Mcewan, who had several underperforming stores before the pandemic hit. This summer, he pushed for a change to the restrictions so that patrons could dine indoors during inclement weather.

“Although many of MEI’S locations have historically been profitable, certain ... locations have been underperforming for a number of years, causing a significant strain on the business as a whole,” BNN Bloomberg quotes a court filing from the company’s appointed monitor, Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc.

Mcewan made efforts to streamline costs by renegotiating leases, furloughing employees, taking government subsidies and even examining the reasons for the high cost of wine.

Mcewan is looking to reorganize, by essentially selling the existing company to a numbered Ontario company 45 per cent owned by his holding company and 55 per cent by investor Fairfax Financial Holdings. The new business would not include Fabbrica Don Mills restaurant or the Yonge & Bloor food hall, which would close.

For now, BNN says, it’s business as usual while Mcewan awaits the court’s decision.