Popular French restaurant chain Bistrot Pierre has closed eight restaurants across the country, including its Coventry premises at Cathedral Lanes in Broadgate, in a deal to save the chain. The eight restaurants have closed immediately, with 158 redundancies.
The other closed Bistrot Pierre restaurants are in Leamington Spa, Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, Newport, Kidderminster, Southport, and Preston. The firm says that planned increases in national insurance and minimum wage say it was ‘impossible’ for the smaller sites to carry on trading.
The restaurant chain was sold out of pre-pack administration in 2020 and has struggled to return to profitability since the pandemic. According to filings on Companies House, turnover dropped to £24.4m, down from £28.4m in the previous year.
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In a statement on Instagram, Bistrot Pierre Coventry said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the permanent closure of Bistrot Pierre Coventry with immediate effect. The Bistrot Pierre brand is now under new ownership and will continue to operate in 10 locations. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the years.”
New investment platform Cherry Equity Partners has acquired a ‘substantial part of the business’. This ensures 10 restaurants across the UK will continue to trade, saving 394 jobs.
Speaking about the deal, CEO Nick White said: “We are delighted to have secured the future of the business and, with the backing of Cherry Equity Partners, now have a strong platform in place for future growth.
“At the same time, we are tremendously sad to see eight of our sites close. The impending increases in the National Minimum Wage and National Insurance contributions will add hundreds of thousands of pounds to our costs, making our smaller locations simply unviable.
“We’d like to express our sincere thanks to our teams for working so hard to serve the fantastic customers who have visited these locations over the years.”
Chief executive of Cherry Equity Partners, Ed Standring, added: “Bistrot Pierre is a well-loved Bistrot, bar and boutique rooms business with a great heritage, and we’re looking forward to working with Nick and the team to invest and grow the business.”
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