A LIQUIDATOR has been appointed to Chino Catering Ltd, the company which owns Brannigan’s restaurants in Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin and in Mahon Point Shopping Centre in Cork.
The extent of the company’s financial difficulty was revealed to creditors yesterday at a creditors’ meeting in Dublin city centre, where Declan McDonald of Grant Thornton was appointed liquidator.
A statement of affairs circulated yesterday revealed that the company has an estimated deficit of €3,830,931. The company has more than 80 creditors, the vast majority of whom are unsecured.
Among the preferential creditors are the Revenue Commissioners, which is owed a total of €269,654 in PAYE, PRSI and VAT payments; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which is owed €26,511; and Cork County Council, which is owed €35,055.
The sum of €187,956 is due to employees in the form of arrears, redundancy and holiday pay. They are also included as preferential creditors.
The biggest unsecured creditor is the director and owner of the company, Tom Coleman, who holds a debt of almost €1.5 million.
A committee of inspection, which will be involved with the liquidation process, was appointed at yesterday’s meeting.
Brannigan’s restaurant, formerly known as Bennigan’s Grill Tavern, opened in March 2005 in Mahon Point Shopping Centre, Cork. The firm’s second restaurant opened in October 2005 in Dundrum Town Centre.
The company could not confirm yesterday the suggestions that up to 80 jobs are in jeopardy.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Coleman said the main reason for the company’s demise was the excessive rents it had to pay at the two restaurants.
“Our margins were fine, our sales had dropped, but the main problem was rent,” he said.
Mr Coleman said if the rent had been reduced, the company would still be in business.
“We have been trying to negotiate our rents, particularly at our Cork location, for over a year, but there was absolutely no willingness to help us out.”
Approximately 15 creditors were in attendance at yesterday’s meeting. Most expressed a lack of surprise about the liquidation.
“The restaurant industry is in very bad shape, so this is not surprising. I’m quite a small supplier, but there are some suppliers who are in danger of losing over €50,000,” said one creditor who was at the meeting. Another creditor, a supplier of beverages to the restaurants, said he hoped to retrieve some stock but held little hope of securing anything else.
Brannigan’s is the latest in a line of restaurants to be hit by the downturn. In recent months, Mint restaurant in Ranelagh in Dublin and Rhodes D7 on Dublin’s Capel Street have closed, while Town Bar Grill, also in Dublin city centre, is in examinership.
