Tossed owner files notice to appoint administrators

Walk-in sales during their reopening trial were running at 5%.

The owner of the Tossed and Vital Ingredient brands has filed a notice to appoint administrators.

Zest Food, which operates 20 sites across the two brands, had already told its workforce they would all be made redundant.

Simon Bonney and Micheal Kiely of Quantuma LLP are expected to be appointed as the joint administrators of the company.

The business previously trialled four trial store openings last June, but were subsequently closed again.

"This (is) a hugely sad day for this wonderful business and its fantastic team; I simply could not ask any more of any of them," managing director Neil Sebba said. "The risks around COVID-19 continue to mean our guests remain at home, and walk-in sales were running at 5% of normal during the trials. It is impossible to forecast when Londoners will feel safe to travel on public transport and return to their offices as a result. Faced with contributions to furlough starting in August, redundancies became unavoidable.”

Zest Food’s creditors approved its company voluntary arrangement last December.

"Unfortunately, we simply do not have a market in which to operate at the moment, and without a viable solution which had the support of all our creditor groups, the directors regrettably considered that an administration was unavoidable,” Sebba added.