Gourmet Burger Kitchen will be closing 23 restaurants and cutting 362 jobs despite avoiding administration with a rescue deal.
The chain was bought by Boparan Restaurant Group, which also rescued Carluccio's from insolvency earlier in the coronavirus pandemic.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) said it slid into administration after Covid-19 affected its liquidity and potential to be sold as a solvent business.
It had started to see improvements in trading last year following a major restructuring process in 2018, which saw it shut a raft of sites.
However GBK, which had been owned by South African group Famous Brands, has now been sold in a pre-pack administration deal after working with insolvency specialists at Deloitte.
It said the move will save 35 sites and 669 jobs from its original network of 61 restaurants and 1,031 employees.
Gavin Maher, joint administrator at Deloitte, said: “As with a number of dining businesses, the broader challenges facing ‘bricks and mortar’ operators, combined with the effect of the lockdown, resulted in a deterioration in financial performance and a material funding requirement.
“We have been working closely with the management team under very difficult market conditions to try and find a funding solution and I am glad to be able to announce the rescue of this well-loved brand together with a large proportion of the sites and workforce.
“However, it’s clearly disappointing that a number of sites have had to close resulting in today’s redundancies.
“We would like to thank all of those involved in the transaction, including our legal advisers, DLA Piper, and wish the management team, workforce and the new owners, Boparan Restaurant Group, every success in now taking the business forward.”
It is the latest expansion in dining for Boparan, which is owned by “Chicken King” Ranjit Boparan and also owns the chains Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner.
Additional reporting by PA Media.
