A fast food outlet has gone into administration putting almost 300 workers at risk. 

Spudulike, which has an outlet at Eastgate Shopping Centre, Basildon is being dealt with by administrators Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group.

The chain has 37 sites in the country and the closure will put 298 workers into unemployed.

Joint administrators Neil Bennett and Alex Cadwallader from Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group have confirmed that a last minute withdrawal by a prospective purchaser from a pre-packaged sale of the Spudulike Group of Companies resulted in all 37 of the Group’s outlets, plus its head office, being closed on Friday 2nd August and all 298 employees being made redundant with immediate effect.

Neil Bennett commented: “We are very disappointed with the outcome after working for several weeks firstly preparing a CVA Proposal, which was rejected by the Group’s creditors, and subsequently pursuing the sale of all or part of the Group’s business and assets with a number of prospective purchasers. “Sadly a sale of the business and assets of the Group on a going concern basis did not prove possible, following the last minute withdrawal of an offer that was close to completion.

“All employees will be able to make claims for their wage arrears, together with accrued holiday pay, statutory notice pay and redundancy pay, from the government’s Redundancy Payment Service. We are currently working towards finalising the employee arrears information so that our instructed agents, Evolve IS, can prepare the employee claim calculations and circulate them to employees and the Redundancy Payment Service. “By instructing dedicated agents in this regard we are hoping to expedite the payment of employee claim entitlements through the Redundancy Payment Service.”

The Spudulike Group operated three trading companies: T&G Fast Food Developments Ltd, Courts Quality Foods Ltd and Spud-U-Like Ltd.