The Lille commercial court validated Friday the opening of a safeguard procedure requested by the restaurant brand Flunch, hit hard by the health crisis.
Read also: The Covid-19 pandemic precipitates Flunch's difficulties
"
The company has presented the guarantees necessary to claim this safeguard regime
" for a period of six renewable months, responded Grégory Dubois, CFDT union representative, who expressed his "
relief
".
"
It was the only decision to have a chance to relaunch the business,
" he told reporters after the hearing.
“
It was important to us that the company endures and that we can save as many jobs as possible and ensure the future of employees
”.
About sixty establishments to sell
The sign - which saw its turnover plunge by nearly 212 million euros (-57%) last year for the 161 restaurants owned in France - announced on Wednesday that it had requested to be placed under procedure safeguard and seek to sell some sixty establishments.
Its managing director, Thierry Bart, said he was "
very happy and very satisfied
" with this favorable opinion, which "
will give us time to work on reopening our restaurants as quickly as possible
".
“
Our representatives and our teams are behind us with one and the same objective: to save Flunch and as many jobs as possible so that we will be even more proud of this beautiful, mythical French restaurant brand in the future, which has a real place in the market,
”he said, adding that“
Flunch will emerge even stronger from this Covid-19 crisis
”.
However, "
everything is not yet done
", qualified Marie-José Bienvenue, CGT union delegate, for whom the negotiations are announced "
complicated
" because of a "
non-existent social dialogue in the sign
".
This procedure “
guarantees us that salaries will be paid and that the shareholder supports us during this observation period even if the transformation is only in its infancy today
”, confided to AFP Philippe Delahaye, delegate CFE-CGC.
“
Our great concern concerns establishments announced for future takeovers or closings: will there really be buyers and under what conditions?
"
Founded in 1971, Flunch, which claims to be "
the leading French self-service restaurant chain
" with 55 million customers served per year before the Covid in 227 restaurants in France, belongs to the Mulliez business constellation (Decathlon , Auchan, Boulanger, Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Saint Maclou ...), most of which are headquartered in the north of France.
