Max Brenner goes into voluntary administration

Dessert franchise Max Brenner has entered voluntary administration after its directors determined that the company is insolvent, or likely to become insolvent, due to escalating costs and slower sales.

McGrathNicol partners Barry Kogan, Kathy Sozou and Jason Preston, who have been appointed as administrators, are assessing the prospects of a sale of the business as a going concern or recapitalisation through the voluntary administration process.

However, all Max Brenner stores will continue to operate on a ‘business as usual’ basis until a decision is made.

In a notice to employees, the administrators said they expect the administration process to last approximately four weeks, during which an investigation will be conducted into the case of the business’s insolvency.

Earlier this year, the company told Inside Retail it was hoping to open six to seven stores through 2018, with New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania cited as areas of interest.

“We are interested in areas of Australia where people may have never heard about the brand and we’re also looking at new market entry in the APAC region as well,” Jung H. Shin, Max Brenner’s commercial director, said.

At the time, Shin attributed the brand’s success to the fact that it is nimble and quick to pivot in the face of change.

“[It’s important] to be quite critical of where things might not have always gone right and looking at how we can better evolve. We need to stay relevant and in order to do that, we need to keep innovating,” Shin said.

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