About sixty Flunch restaurants will be sold (illustration).

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Google maps screenshot

  • The Flunch restaurant chain saw its turnover plunge by nearly 212 million euros in 2020.

  • It is asking to be placed under safeguard procedure and wishes to sell around sixty of its 227 restaurants.

  • Employees could lose their jobs in restaurants that would not be taken over and at company headquarters.

Flunch, the restaurant chain of the Mulliez group, which has 227 restaurants, has asked to be placed under a safeguard procedure "to face the major difficulties linked to the health crisis".

The company is seeking to sell around sixty establishments, she announced on Wednesday.

Out of nearly 5,000 employees, "a maximum of 1,300 positions should be concerned" by the project to "resize" the restaurant park of the sign.

Sixty establishments should thus be sold, "with the possibility of opening a PSE, after consultation with staff representatives," the company said in a press release.

"We did not expect a plan of such magnitude," said Grégory Dubois, CFDT central union representative.

“Sixty restaurants is still huge”.

The restaurants offered to employees

These restaurants will be "offered for resumption, in priority to employees of the brand and to current franchisees", then secondly, to other catering professionals, said a spokesperson for Flunch.

The option of proceeding with a job protection plan (PSE) would only be considered for some of the employees of the restaurants who would not be the subject of a takeover, and of the employees of the head office, specified the door- word.

"The idea is to come up with a project to turn the business around," she added.

To try to achieve this, Flunch will refocus on its best-placed and least loss-making establishments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The idea is to restart in a more favorable financial position, when restaurants can reopen.

While waiting for a reopening on a date "still uncertain"

Hard hit by the health crisis, the brand saw its turnover plunge by nearly 212 million euros (-57%) in 2020, for the 161 restaurants owned in France.

Of the 227 Flunch restaurants that the brand has, 66 franchisees are not affected by this project.

Nor are the seven Flunch restaurants in Italy.

Friday will take place a hearing at the Commercial Court of Lille, which will examine the opening of this safeguard procedure.

This "should allow the company to give itself time in terms of cash flow while awaiting the resumption of commercial activity, the date of which is still uncertain, and to continue its transformation plan," said the press release.

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  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Employment

  • Lille

  • Trade

  • Restoration

  • Economy