Patisserie Valerie staff "still owed wages" after chain's collapse
Over 900 people were made redundant after 71 sites closed when the bakery chain entered administration last month.
Former employees have told the BBC they have not received their January wages and criticised a now-deleted post by Patisserie Valerie where its CEO Steve Francis insisted it was “business as usual” for the brand.
Chermayne Bonnaud, 26, who was manager of Patisserie Valerie in Peterborough city centre, said: “I was expecting a bonus as well. I wasn’t paid my [October] bonus either, but received an email stating we would be back paid.
“When [Patisserie Valerie] put on social media a post about new beginnings…how can they do all that and pay for advertising, but they can’t pay us our wages?”
In a post on the Patisserie Valerie website on 24 January the company acknowledged the "personal devastation of losing hundreds of dedicated employees" but said its estate was now "smaller and more profitable" and had seen "strong sales" in the previous week.
The statement has since been taken down.
Staff must now apply to the government for redundancy and statutory notice pay, which could take up to six weeks.
A spokesperson for administrators KPMG said: "We recognise this is a very difficult time for those members of staff who have lost their jobs. We are providing them with support, including assisting with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service."
The investigation in to Patisserie Valerie's finances is still ongoing following the discovery of a £40m black hole in its accounts, with The Sunday Times reporting that fictitious Groupon vouchers were allegedly used to inflate the cafe chain's sales.
