» HOPES DEAL WILL SAVE CITY CAFE CHAIN
BRISTOL-BASED cafe chain Friska has called in the administrators and been sold – but there is hope the city’s outlets can be saved.
The firm, which had eight cafe and ‘quick service restaurants’ in Bristol and four more in Manchester and Birmingham, has been hit hard by the Covid pandemic because the work-from-home rule has drastically cut footfall in the city centre.
None of the cafe branches in Bristol have reopened since the start of the lockdown in March last year, and last month Friska’s founders told the Post’s sister website Bristol Live of the challenges the pandemic had brought.
Auditors Mazars have now announced they have been appointed as the administrators of Friska, with the end in sight for the company and its founders.
But there is hope for a rebirth of the Friska brand and at least most of the cafe outlets in Bristol.
Friska has been bought by a third party – Mazars have not identified them – who have acquired the business, including ‘goodwill and trading names’ and five of the eight sites across Bristol.
Two of the remaining three Friskas in Bristol have been sold to the current management team, Griff Holland and Ed Brown, who founded Friska back in 2009.
Those two cafes will be reopening at some point soon under a different brand, Mazars have announced.
The administrators from Mazars, Mark Boughey and Tim Ball, said Covid had hit Friska hard.
A Mazars spokesperson said: “As with many businesses in the hospitality and retail sector, the company has struggled in the last 15 months due to the forced closures, as a result of Covid lockdowns, and the general reduction in footfall with office employees working from home.
“As a result, the company entered into a company voluntary arrangement in October 2020 with a view to exiting the Manchester and Birmingham markets, renegotiating terms with landlords and refocusing future operations in Bristol.
“The joint administrators are pleased to announce that a sale of the business and assets has now been completed, which has resulted in 35 employees transferring to the new owners.”
Mr Boughey said they hoped the new owners would thrive with the Friska name.
“Whilst the hospitality and retail sector continues to experience challenges, due to Covid, we hope that the Government’s recent announcement and the lifting of restrictions on July 19 will enable the business to reopen and thrive under new ownership, safeguard the jobs of employees and retain tenants for local landlords,” he added.
“We also wish the Friska cofounders Griff and Ed well with their new venture and every success for the future.”
Recently, Mr Holland told the Post he was still hopeful about the future of Friska. He said then: “We were hoping June 21 would be the start of things slowly coming back, but we are going to have to wait and see what happens in a month’s time and pray that people start coming back to work.
“The business we’ve worked hard to build over the past 11 years was all about creating a really good go-to lunch venue for people in local offices.
“If we are looking at this hybrid way of working with people at home some days and maybe one day a week in the office, you are looking at a huge drop in sales for businesses like us.”