Mon 19th Oct 2020 - Abokado sold in pre-pack administration, entire workforce made redundant Abokado sold in pre-pack administration, entire workforce made redundant: London-based healthy eating chain Abokado has been sold in a pre-pack administration but its entire workforce has been made redundant. Benjamin Wiles and Geoffrey Bouchier, of Duff & Phelps, were appointed administrators on 13 October and a pre-packaged administration sale was executed shortly thereafter to Montway Holdings, of which Abokado co-founder Mark Lilley is listed as its director. Lilley said: “We were forced to close at the end of March along with the rest of our sector due to the global outbreak of covid-19. In July, the board appointed Duff & Phelps to perform an accelerated sale in order to attempt to secure a future for the business and achieve a positive outcome for creditors and employees. Unfortunately, in light of the continued uncertainty, the accumulating liabilities and the existing leasehold structures, it was impossible to secure sufficient investment to reopen the business. The impact of covid-19 on the hospitality and leisure industry has been catastrophic and I feel for each and every business owner and employee within this sector. However, for a business such as Abokado, which is entirely dependent on London’s office community, the overnight shift to working from home and the emptying out of central London has been simply devastating. Our market, overnight, ceased to exist. Lindsay and I could never have imagined when we started this journey in the spring of 2004 that we would end up here. It is shocking our entire 19 stores remain closed. It is a tragedy our entire workforce, many of whom have families and children to support, and some of whom have lived and breathed Abokado for more than a decade, have been made redundant. While the government support measures have been welcome, to my mind, they haven’t gone nearly far enough. With tightening restrictions, I fear that many more businesses and livelihoods will be lost over the coming months without further significant intervention – successful businesses made unviable by circumstances and restrictions entirely outside of their control. We are fortunate to have been able to pull together a new investment group to support us in breathing new life into the business. Our hope is for the Abokado brand to re-emerge at some point in the future and, in turn, to create employment to once again be a well-loved amenity for London’s workforce and to continue doing good within the community. In the meantime, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our investors, partners, suppliers and, most of all, our crew for their hard work, dedication and commitment to Abokado and our vision.”