A BELOVED burger chain with 12 branches across Britain is reportedly set to enter administration.
It is understood that the company is facing a total collapse after halving its number of stores just two years ago in a desperate bid to stay afloat.
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Byron Burgers is known for its gourmet meals and is a hub for hungry diners looking to eat in style.
However, according to The Grocer, the company is set to collapse after overcoming financial difficulties just two years ago.
The posh burger company is owned by Tristar Foods Ltd which has just filed an intention to be handed over to an administrator.
First launched in 2007, the company exploded in popularity thanks to its high-end hamburgers and luxury dishes.
By 2018, the company had 67 branches across the UK.
However, the burger chain’s financial situation soon worsened which forced it to slash the number of its restaurants across Britain.
Like many restaurant chains, Byron Burgers struggled during the Covid Pandemic to cope with the huge decline in footfall.
It finally collapsed in 2020, slashing its number of branches from 51 to just 21.
However, the brand’s financial woes continued into 2023 when the burger chain announced that it would be halving its number of restaurants.
Byron Burgers earmarked ten of its remaining 21 restaurants for closure in a desperate bid to survive.
That wave of closures resulted in over 600 jobs being cut.
Now, employees are bracing for further job cuts as the company’s future remains uncertain.
The Sun has approached Byron Burgers for comment.
The news comes after an award-winning restaurant chain also fell into administration over the summer.
Eat The Bird first launched in Taunton, before opening up sites in Cardiff and Exeter.
In 2023, the company bagged the Street Food Dish of the Year award as it became a haven for trendy diners.
However, on July 22 this year, all three of the brand’s restaurants closed suddenly – after failing to pay its meat supplier, Fairfax Meadow Europe Ltd.
Many other restaurants have closed down throughout the year, as companies battle with soaring rent costs and rising import prices.
Even Michelin-starred restaurants have been feeling the pinch, with the glamorous London restaurant La Dame de Pic closing in February.
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La Goccia in Covent Garden also shut down in the spring, with its owners blaming Covid and Brexit for making it too difficult to hire trained staff.
Even huge retail chains including Poundland and Claire’s have struggled to stay open.
Claire’s collapsed into administration in July, as it stopped all online orders.
Although its 306 stores remain open, the brand’s future is unknown.
Meanwhile, Poundland was bought for just £1 with hundreds of stores remaining at risk of closure.
The company has 800 shops across Britain and employees thousands of members of staff.
Retail pain in 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
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