CEO of Hub Box apologised to creditors and shareholders

The Hub Box burger chain, which has restaurants in St Ives, Pentewan, Exeter, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Dorchester, Taunton and Portsmouth went into administration last week owing creditors hundreds of thousands of pounds.

However the company was immediately bought debt free by a new company South West Restaurants Ltd set up by former directors of Hub Box, including CEO Richard Boon, company directors Simon Henderson and Christian Hugo (finance director).

St Ives is one of the branches which will stay open (Image: HubBox)

A deal to sell the chain saw all of Hub Box’s ten restaurants across the South West of England and Wales, including Falmouth and Truro, continue to trade, with all of the Company’s circa 300 staff transferring to South West Restaurants Ltd as part of the deal.

In a post on Facebook Mr Boon said they had no other choice to do what they did if they were to save the jobs of 300 staff at the company.

He said it was an announcement that they never wanted to make and one they had been working tirelessly to avoid for many months.

He said it had been a huge and difficult decision but the reality is that the last couple of years had been incredibly tough.

“As with many other companies across the hospitality industry, rising food, energy, interest rates and labour costs have put increasing pressure on our cash flow. An investment we’d made in a new location didn’t work out. Then a washout Easter.

“We’ve spent months getting expert advice on how to keep our heads above water and have been heart-wrenchingly close to securing investment - but it just didn’t happen. So, we had two options. The first was liquidation – closure, 300 jobs lost,” he said.

“The second option was to go into administration and restructure under the umbrella of a new company.”

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He said this meant they’d be able to move forward on a more sustainable financial footing, without the burden of some of our legacy debts.

“It meant all ten restaurants could still trade, 300 jobs would be secured, and we’d still be here to buy from local suppliers. Our guts, hearts and heads told us that this was the path to take. “Whilst we know that this isn’t ideal, it offers the best solution to a bad situation. It means our team thankfully still have jobs, and we have been able to ensure all of our local suppliers will be paid.

“Of course, this isn’t a golden bullet. We don’t take the debt owed to some of our other creditors, or the significant sums lost by our shareholders, lightly. We are truly very sorry for this.”

He added: “Thank you so much for your continued support and deepest apologies to anyone who has been impacted by the process. It is the last thing we wanted.”