Hummus Bros collapsed after failed bid to expand off the high street

The Mediterranean restaurant group announced in June​​ it had entered administration with the closure of six sites and loss of 56 jobs.

Management accounts for the year to February 2018 show a pre-tax loss of £114,000. The group also posted pre-tax losses of £199,000 for the 12 months to 28 February 2017.

A proposal by administrator’s ReSolve Partners shows that in early 2017 the directors considered diversifying Hummus Bros in to branded supermarket products.

They were also looking to purchase catering vans to supply public events to grow the business without the costs and risks of opening additional sites.

However, the report says there was little appetite from investors to fund further expansion due to “a number of high profile failures in the casual dining sector”.

It adds the restaurants suffered from “challenging conditions” including “oversupply” of other casual dining brands and rising raw ingredient costs.

In the second quarter of 2018 directors decided company could no longer trade in its current form, but were unable to source additional funding or find a buyer for the business.

By 19 June the company had “insufficient raw ingredients” to continue trading, and long lead times for deliveries meant it could not obtain enough fresh produce to keep the restaurants open in administration.

Two of its three chefs were also on long-term sick leave and the third was working their notice period.

Hummus Bros ceased trading on 24 June, when all staff – including the directors – were made redundant.