The restaurant chain in crisis Courtepaille has requested the opening of legal proceedings before the Nanterre commercial court, its owner, the Napaqaro group, announced Monday, which had indicated in early February that it wanted to sell the brand. Faced with “serious economic and financial difficulties first caused by the Covid crisis and subsequently aggravated”, Courtepaille “decided to seek the protection of the Nanterre commercial court”, the press release specified.
A hearing “will be held before the end of the month,” Napaqaro continues, and “an observation period should be announced” for Courtepaille, which has 144 directly operated and 76 franchised restaurants and employs 2,089 employees. During this, the management, assisted by “two judicial administrators appointed by the court, will do everything possible to find solutions for the recovery of Courtepaille,” the press release details.
Acquired in 2020 for 17 million euros by Napaqaro
The family brand has not managed to recover its level of assistance from 2019, before the health crisis: it was still down 25% last year with a turnover of 190 million euros. Courtepaille has also suffered from rising inflation, which increases its supply costs and forces families with tight budgets to make decisions about their consumption.
“The initiation of this procedure will open a new phase of search for investors,” concludes Napaqaro, who had bought Courtepaille a little over two years ago, for 17 million euros, from the British fund ICG. Napaqaro, which also owns Buffalo Grill and franchises US chicken fast food brand Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, says it wants to “find the best possible solution to preserve business and jobs” in Courtepaille.
Source: BFM TV
