Hix Restaurants appoints administrators amid coronavirus crisis
Chef Mark Hix has appointed administrators to his restaurant and hotel business due to the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Deloitte has been appointed as administrator to WSH and Mark Hix Restaurants, according to the company’s website.
All staff have been made redundant and were not able to be paid through the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, Hix said in an Instagram post announcing the permanent restaurant closures.
Hix, who had several sites in London and Dorset, said the decision to start administration proceedings had not been made by him.
“Apart from tough times and sad times for me, it is nothing compared to what so many of my team, and others that are reliant on our business, are going through,” the restaurateur said in a post on Instagram last week.
“Over time we have genuinely become a large family and to lose all of my team like this has been incredibly difficult and upsetting.
“One day, I will reopen in some way and I want to say a big thank you to all of my team, my suppliers and our guests who’ve been so supportive over the years and a huge thanks to those that have been in touch with their good wishes.”
The hospitality industry has suffered during the coronavirus crisis due to an initial drop in footfall and then the forced closure of all sites during the UK lockdown.
Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s appointed FRP Advisory as administrator last month and analysts have warned that thousands of UK pubs and restaurants could collapse due to coronavirus.
The number of restaurant and pub insolvencies jumped 10 per cent last year to 1,452 and 526 respectively, highlighting the weak state of the UK’s leisure sector before the pandemic.