Browne’s Chocolates in liquidation
Insolvency practitioner Neville & Co of Plymouth will now put together a report on the business in preparation for a final creditors meeting.
A spokesman for statutory insolvency regulator the Insolvency Service explained to FoodManufacture.co.uk that in such circumstances a company’s assets such as equipment, or time remaining on a leasehold, would be sold to raise funds for creditors. It is also possible that some part of the business might still be revived.
Hope to salvage something
He said: “The liquidator will look at the situation in detail and produce a report on what it has been found, eight weeks before a final meeting with creditors. It must give 28 days notice of this meeting to creditors.”
Neville & Co was called-in to go through Browne’s books after the firm shut its doors at the start of this month.
The Okehampton company employed around 30 people and supplied retailers including Harrods and Amazon.co.uk with premium chocolates such as truffles.
Okehampton Chamber of Commerce chairman Ian Bailey told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We hope that something can be salvaged from Browne’s Chocolates for the sake of the town.”
Manufacturing blight
Okehampton has suffered several manufacturing-related blows over the last month.
It is home to the former Okehampton Desserts (PoleStar Foods) cheesecake site, which employed 232 people, but went into administration in February.
The firm's plant, machinery and freehold were acquired later that month via a newly formed company, Devonshire Desserts (owned by Leeds-based Country Style Foods), but the site is not currently in operation.
Robert Wiseman Dairies is also moving production from its Okehampton site - which closes in April - to its mega-dairy in Bridgewater with up to 67 further job losses.
Bailey said: “I am given to believe that the Devonshire Desserts site is due to open again fairly shortly. The new owners have to renegotiate all the contracts before re-opening.”
