Byron considering pre-pack admin affecting half its locations

Struggling ‘gourmet’ burger chain Byron is considering the closure of almost half of its remaining restaurants, it emerged on Tuesday.

According to Sky News, up to 10 of Byron’s 21 locations could close permanently as part of a pre-pack administration being planned by its owner, the Mayfair-based private investment outfit Calveton.

It cited ‘insiders’ as saying a deal could be reached with administrators at Interpath Advisory as early as this week.

The possible administration would come barely two years after the chain’s last failure, after it last appointed administrators at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in mid-2020.

At the time the chain operated more than 50 restaurants and was majority-owned by Three Hills Capital Partners, but was downsized as part of that administration and taken under the control of Calveton, although Three Hills retains a minority stake.

Byron is one of many chains that expanded far too quickly during the British casual dining explosion of the 2010s.

It first ran into real trouble in 2018, when it went through a restructuring exercise to erase its hefty debt burden and closed underperforming restaurants.

Sky said on Tuesday that it was not known how many jobs could be lost in the chain’s currently-planned restructure.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.