Nearly 2,200 employees at food-to-go specialist Adelie Foods have been made redundant after joint administrators Deloitte were unable to secure a sale for the business as a going concern.
The joint administrators had temporarily halted operations at the business but this has been made permanent, resulting in 2,169 redundancies being made today (1 June), with 22 employees retained.
Deloitte was appointed last week after Adelie, which supplies food-to-go products to a range of retail customers and contract caterers, suffered a “significant adverse effect” as a result of coronavirus and the associated lockdown measures.
A “very rapid” assessment of the options available was undertaken in the absence of any funding to enable ongoing trade. The previous sale process had resulted in an agreed going concern sale that it was not possible to implement, due to a key regulatory approval not being forthcoming.
“Covid-19 has presented huge challenges to this business, given the lockdown measures and associated impact on the food-to-go sector. It is very unfortunate that we couldn’t enact the previously agreed sale and it is with sadness that we now have to announce such a significant number of redundancies,” said Rob Harding, joint administrator at Deloitte.
“This is a very difficult time for the group’s employees and other key stakeholders. We will do everything we can to support them through this and would like to thank all for their continued support.”
The group consists of Adelie Foods Limited, Adelie Foods Group Limited, Adelie Holdco UK Limited, Adelie Foods Bidco Limited and Brambles Foods Group Limited.
At the time the group administrators were appointed, the business operated from three manufacturing facilities and five distribution centres across the country.
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