Restaurant chain Burger Burger has gone into liquidation shortly after the company announced it was owing $1.8 million, including debt to suppliers, rent and GST.<\/p>\n
Burger Burger Limited and Burger Burger IP Limited were both placed into liquidation on July 24.<\/p>\n
In June, the restaurant chain’s director Mimi Gilmour told RNZ spending in restaurants had dropped “through the floor”.<\/p>\n
“We’ve just gone through the worst two years of trading along with everybody else, and the pressure just kept building, and we tried to find some solutions, and every single solution that I’ve exercised has fallen through,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Our cost of goods have increased, our wages have increased, your rent keeps increasing, spending has recovered a bit and then dropped again when the war hit. There’s so many factors.”<\/p>\n
The chain was hoping to find a buyer for the business but failed to do so. Burger Burger opened its first store in Auckland in 2014.<\/p>\n
Hospitality a vulnerable sector<\/p>\n
Company liquidations remain elevated in New Zealand and are expected to reach their highest level since 2010.<\/p>\n
Business leaders say confidence is ‘brittle’ as the higher 12.5% import tax lands on an already tough market. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Hospitality was one of the most vulnerable sectors, Centrix chief operating officer Monika Lacey previously told RNZ.<\/p>\n
There have been just over 3000 liquidations recorded in the last year, up 14 percent on a year earlier.<\/p>\n