Sandwich bars in crisis as customers desert

Jun 23 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

THE British arm of O'Briens Sandwich Bars has been placed in administration as the company continues to struggle in difficult trading conditions.

Its 70 North East staff will be concerned for their jobs after the Irish company admitted that many of its 109 branches in Britain have been struggling to pay rent because of falling customer numbers.

The firm, whose main North East franchise operators are husband and wife Lee and Gill Fish, recently announced plans to create 100 jobs in the region as part of a £2m investment to increase its North East shops from eight to 30 over five years.

Despite the setback the company said it had no plans to place the Irish arm of the business in administration and it hoped the stores in Britain would remain open and jobs be saved as part of negotiations.

O’Briens founder and chairman Brody Sweeney said: “Our first priority is to secure jobs and the future livelihoods of our franchisees in the UK in the face of the very difficult trading conditions we have been experiencing. Many of our franchisees are struggling to pay their rents in the face of reduced footfalls in shopping centres across the UK and Northern Ireland and lower consumer spending.

“This in turn puts pressure on our own company, as we hold the head leases on most of the outlets in the chain.”

The firm expects reduced rental terms will be agreed with landlords so the shops can continue to trade during the administration process and said it had been working hard to expand its range to attract more customers.

“We are optimistic that a relatively small number of stores will be closed in the UK as part of the administration and that the restructured group can overcome the worst downturn in our industry since we commenced trading,” Mr Sweeney said.

“Trading in the Irish business is also challenging, where we have had a number of closures since the start of the year, as conditions are if anything worse than Britain.”