Le Pain Quotidien operator crashes into administration with only one London store to survive
A City hotspot for morning coffee, Le Pain Quotidien, has closed all but one of its sites across London, in another fatal blow for the city’s hospitality sector.
The Belgian coffee chain, which operates from eight sites across the capital, including a cafe on Fish Street Hill in Monument, has closed all of its sites except one in St Pancras.
A note posted outside one of its sites read: “The affairs business and property of the Bruncho UK Limited (trading as Le Pain Quotidien) are being managed by the Joint Administrators, Sarah Rayment and Philip Dakin of Kroll Advisory.”
As the St Pancras site is owned by its sister company SPQ Holdings Limited it will not be impacted.
“Pressures on parts of the hospitality and casual dining sector have been well highlighted. Brunchco UK Limited which is predominantly located in London has suffered from reduced revenues as a result of decreased footfall in the Capital, high rents and increased wage costs,” Sarah Rayment,” global co-head restructuring at Kroll, told CityAM
“As part of the next steps of the insolvency, we will be looking to realise value from the company’s leasehold interests and other assets.”
Le Pain Quotidien, French for the daily bread, has struggled in recent years and filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in its US division in 2020 – closing all 98 of its US stores.
A handful have since reopened in locations such as New York.