New York (AFP)
Closed since the start of the pandemic, the sixteen Maison Kayser bakeries in New York will not reopen: their owner has filed a case with a bankruptcy court and plans to sell its stores to the company Aurify Brands.
The latter already bought the stores in the United States of the Le Pain Quotidien chain in June.
Contacted by AFP on Friday, she declined to comment.
Maison Kayser, founded in 1996 rue Monge in Paris, took its first steps in the American metropolis in 2012, bringing its traditional baguettes, French pastries and pastries as well as a restaurant section.
The chain, managed by the company Cosmoledo in the United States, also tried its luck in the American capital Washington.
But this expansion strategy was not paying off and the Cosmoledo group decided in 2019 to initiate a restructuring plan, explained its managing director José Alcalay, in the bankruptcy case.
This restructuring was practically complete when, in early 2020, the pandemic struck.
The group then had to close its bakeries and lay off about 800 employees.
When New York State authorized restaurants to reopen in June, but only outdoors at first, Cosmoledo estimated that it would not be possible to generate enough income to "support the still precarious financial situation" of chain.
The company decided in mid-July to remain closed and filed for bankruptcy Thursday evening in a Manhattan court.
The Cosmoledo group had already indicated in a document filed on September 4 with the authorities that it was laying off 708 people.
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