Hit by the second lockdown, coffee shop chain, Caffe Nero is launching a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which will allow it to renegotiate terms with its landlords and other creditors.
The company, which has 800 UK sites and 200 abroad with 6,000 employees, has appointed accountancy firm KPMG to oversee the CVA process.
As part of the CVA, the company will now turn to landlords to ask for better terms in a bid to slow the flow of cash away from the business.
It is proposing to move most sites to turnover-based rent, and that any store closures it is forced to make will be minimal.
CEO Gerry Ford, who founded the brand in 1997, said, “Like so many businesses in the hospitality sector, the pandemic has decimated trading, and although we had made significant progress in navigating the financial challenges of the first lockdown, the second lockdown has made it imperative that we take further action.”