Bankruptcy storm rages among top establishments: yet another Michelin-starred restaurant bankrupt
We’ve written about it before: more and more hospitality businesses are going bankrupt or filing for bankruptcy. Including top establishments with a Michelin star or a Bib Gourmand. A few days ago, the ‘Finest French restaurant in the Netherlands’ pulled the plug; now Michelin-starred restaurant Sense in Den Bosch is bankrupt.
In 2021 and 2022, the hospitality industry still seemed to be relatively unaffected by COVID-19: last year, 134 businesses went bankrupt, compared with 254 in 2019, the year before the lockdowns. But anyone thinking logically could have counted on ten fingers that a bankruptcy storm was inevitable; in the first quarter of 2023, 66 hospitality businesses went bankrupt, almost three times as many as in the first quarter of last year.
Bankruptcy storm inevitable
The hospitality industry is going through an extremely difficult period. COVID repayment arrangements, deferred (payroll) taxes and pension contributions, rising (energy) prices, a severe staff shortage (meaning businesses are often open only a few days a week and can therefore serve fewer covers), and guests with less and less disposable income due to sky-high inflation…
Higher staff and product costs on the one hand (CBS, for example, calculated that beer, coffee, meat, oil and butter alone had risen in cost by around 18 percent at the beginning of this year), lower income on the other, plus a mountain of debt; try keeping your business financially afloat then. COVID support seemed like a wonderful gesture, but it all has to be paid back. An extremely difficult task, and this applies across the sector; restaurant Sense in Den Bosch has had a Michelin star for 12 years, and this restaurant is now bankrupt too.
Bankruptcy already declared
The aftermath of the COVID crisis was the final straw leading to restaurant Sense’s bankruptcy, owner and chef Dennis Middeldorp told Misset Horeca. The court has already declared the bankruptcy, but the restaurant is still open—for how much longer, of course, is the question.
These top establishments are already bankrupt or closing soon
Airrepublic*, Cadzand: closes 24 March 2024
Chez Brochard, Harderwijk: closes October 2023
Pure C, Cadzand: closes at the end of September 2023
Auberge Jean & Marie, Amsterdam: bankrupt September 2023
Oonivoo, Uden: bankrupt September 2023
Cucina Soho, The Hague: closed July 2023
Vanderveen*, Amsterdam: closed May 2023
Auguste, Maarssen: bankrupt April 2023
Graffiti, Heerlen: closed March 2023
Mijn Keuken*, Wouw: closed February 2023
Fizzy, Epe: closed 1 January 2023
And according to experts, it will be quite some time before the bankruptcy storm subsides…
Read also:
- These dramatic tax measures will make groceries much more expensive
- The police were called: the bill was such a disappointment for the guests
- Sergio Herman’s restaurant Pure C closed permanently
Source: NRC & Misset Horeca
