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28
Jul 2022
Last Updated: 28/07/2022
Love Brownies goes into liquidation but Harrogate store to stay open
The company said it had suffered 'unsustainable' losses and liquidators were appointed to its Ilkley headquarters at the end of last week.
Love Brownies has gone into liquidation but said that its Harrogate store, which is a franchise, will stay open.
The company said it had suffered "unsustainable" losses and liquidators were appointed to its Ilkley headquarters at the end of last week.
Lee and Chantelle Teal set up Love Brownies in 2009 with the "ambition of baking the ultimate chocolate brownie and making people smile". It went onto to win three gold stars from the Great Taste Awards in 2015 and expanded rapidly with a new bakery at Howgill.
In a statement included in correspondence sent to creditors it said:
"Whilst the expansion had led to increased revenues, the company has also been adversely affected by covid, significant increases in raw material costs and spiralling expansion costs. As a result of this, the company incurred significant losses of £359,095 in the 10-month period to May 2022 which were unsustainable.
"The impact of these losses on cashflow resulted in the directors seeking investment from a third party known to them who had expressed an interest in purchasing the company.
"Unfortunately, after a period of working with the private investor, a suitable offer was not received and ultimately the directors sought advice to place the company in liquidation."
Mr Teal told the Stray Ferret however, that the Harrogate store on Montpellier Parade would stay open as it is franchised but other parts of the business, including the flagship store in Leeds Victoria Gate had been closed and staff made redundant. He added:
"Chantelle and I would like to thank everyone who has been with us through a very difficult time. Our plan now is to rebuild Love Brownies from the bottom up. The Harrogate store is fantastic. It's still the original team, they do a great job for us and they will keep going."
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