Gino D’Acampo’s My Pasta Bar chain has called in liquidators after allegedly borrowing millions and laying off staff.
As reported by Express and Companies House records, the company’s current status is liquidation.
My Pasta Bar chain reportedly owes £4,939,332 to 49 creditors, £113,975 to HMRC and £37,887 in staff wages.
Gino D’Acampo My Restaurant chain is unaffected by the liquidation.
According to Gino’s My Pasta Bar’s Facebook page, it ‘specialises in serving great pasta fast’.
Dishes on the menu included Gino’s own breakfast rotolini pastries, authentic antipasti, salads, pastries, speciality breads, Italian desserts and Neapolitan coffee for just £1.
The My Pasta Bar chain had branches across London including Fleet Street, Leadenhall Market and Bishopsgate. However the closure of two branches post-pandemic might have been seen as a sign that the chain was in trouble.
Here is a video of opening week posted on My Pasta Bar's Facebook page on 13 August 2013.
The MailOnline reports that the Leadenhall Market site remained decorated with its logos. An apology sign in the window cited Covid as the reason for its closure.
Gino has been dogged by rumours of financial instability over the past few years. In October 2020 Gino was reported to have been bailed out by Sir Malcolm Walker, founder of Iceland and Tarsem Dhaliwal, group managing director. It is believed that the senior Iceland executives' offer of a six-figure loan was not enough to salvage the troubled My Pasta Bar chain.
A source told MailOnline’s This Is Money: “As to why Gino’s restaurants have lost so much money, I don’t really know.
“The losses must have gone up even more because of the pandemic.”
Gino is a flamboyant chef and regular on television with a net worth of approximately £8 million. He is also one of the busiest food personalities in the industry having developed a line of ready meals for Tesco and penned 15 cookbooks.
Since appearing on This Morning and being crowned winner of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2009, he has gone on to front other successful programmes. These include the seven-series Gino’s Italian Escape and ITV's Family Fortunes where he replaced Vernon Kay in 2020.
Gino lives with his family in a £1.25 million home in Hertfordshire and has a second home in Italy.
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