Upmarket sandwich chain Benugo says it has been forced to close its outlet in Westfield, White City due to “extraordinarily high rents”.
A spokeswoman said the company had been losing thousands of pounds at Westfield, despite high footfall levels. The outlet was closed last week, she confirmed.
She commented: “Financially it was not beneficial to be there any more, rents are extraordinarily high compared to high street rents, so Benugo decided to leave.”
She added that Benugo had also closed its City Road outlet in London in November last year after the landlord for the block decided he wanted to clear the premises to build a large development.
However, there were no other closures planned and the fine dining and deli company was continuing to expand its portfolio of shops, she said.
It recently opened an outlet in Hanover Street, off Hanover Square in Mayfair, London, and will open next month within the exclusive 62 Buckingham Gate development, near London Victoria station.
Benugo, founded in 1998 by brothers Ben and Hugo, currently has 10 high street outlets plus an espresso bar, as well as 11 restaurants and 12 sites in public spaces, such as the Museum of Childhood in London. It also operates in-house cafés in corporate workplaces.
The company has a bakery in Bermondsey, London, where it prepares a range of bakery goods to distribute to its outlets.
Shops sell sandwiches, cold or toasted, on a variety of different breads, including signature combination options (priced from £4.45), such as the New Yorker - a rustic ciabatta bread filled with British turkey from the Arden forest, crispy bacon, Gruyère with Dijon mayo, lettuce and tomato.
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