A POPULAR restaurant chain has announced the closure of three locations with immediate effect.
Wagamama’s Dundrum, South King Street and Blanchardstown branches are set to close for good.
The closures come after receivers appointed last week failed to reach an agreement with the UK-based chain on a restructuring of its franchise agreement.
Some 106 employees working in these locations have been informed of the decision to cease trading immediately.
Receivers said they would liaise with the workers to detail the implications for their continued employment with Press Up Hospitality.
Redeployment opportunities are said to be a possibility.
Despite the Wagamama restaurants closing, Press Up reached an agreement with the landlords of the South King Street and Blanchardstown sites to remain as operating venues for the group.
According to the Irish Times, the group “hopes” to have new operations set up in the next four to eight weeks.
No deal was said to be reached on the property in Dundrum.
It comes as London-based lender Cheyne Capital took control of the Press Up Hospitality group last week.
They aimed to invest fresh capital into the business, which has been running for over a decade.
Press Up was originally set up by Paddy McKillen Junior and Matt Ryan.
In a debt-for-equity swap, Cheyne took a majority equity stake in the business.
They appointed Shane McCarthy and Cormac O’Connor from KPMG as receivers to four entities including 12 venues under the Elephant & Castle, Wagamama and Wowburger restaurant brands.
These included Portalon Ltd, the operator of Wagamama on South King Street, Dundrum and Blanchardstown in Dublin.
By the end of May 2021, it was reported in the latest accounts filed for Portalon that they had accumulated losses of €250,443.
The other venues put into receivership were Elephant & Castle Ltd (in Temple Bar, Rathmines and Bray), Svetac Ltd (who operates Wowburger on Wexford Street, Ranelagh, Parnell Street and in Bray), and Silots Ltd (runs Elephant & Castle in Churchtown and Beacon).
Fans of the restaurants shared their opinions on X, formerly Twitter.
One person said: “Wagamama is arguably the best of what Press Up has to offer.
“Hopefully they will find another franchisee.”
Another person tweeted: “This is after really upsetting me??
“Wagamama was my little treat to myself.”
‘STILL GOING TO BE RUDE’
It comes as Karen’s Diner on O’Connell Street in Dublin, where staff are purposefully rude to customers, has announced that it will not be affected by the liquidation of the brand in the UK.
All six restaurants in the UK are now being forced to close and owners owe over €400,000 to creditors.
The two companies are completely separate, and owner of the Irish arm of Karen’s Diner Ivan Marinov has vowed: “We’re still going to be rude to a lot more people.”
He told The Sun: “We’re sad that we’ll be the only one standing but we have a restaurant going strong, we’re still going to be rude to a lot more people.
He explained that the liquidation of the UK Company, which traded under Viral Ventures UK, won’t affect the Dublin restaurant as the two are unrelated.
Ivan said: “We’re a completely separate company.
“They have Karen’s Diner the name trademarked, and we pay them a fee to use that name.
“We’re an independent franchise.”
Ivan said he now aims to regain the public’s trust and stress to customers and vendors that the Irish business is a “separate entity” from the one in the UK.
