Danish Michelin-starred restaurant files for bankruptcy
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Published: 1 Apr, 2020 CET.
Updated: Wed 1 Apr 2020 09:46 CET
Denmark's glitziest new hotel opening has been put on hold and the owner of two of its most celebrated Michelin-starred restaurants has filed for bankruptcy. Despite government financial support, the coronavirus lockdown is starting to bite.
The Kadeau Restaurant group, which owns a one Michelin star restaurant on Sømarken beach on the island of Bornholm, and a two Michelin-starred eatery in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, on Monday filed for bankruptcy.
"We have had to throw the towel in the ring and file for bankruptcy. This crisis has hit us at the worst possible time," said Magnus Klein Kofoed, the group's chief executive, told Denmark's Finans newspaper.
He said that his restaurants tended to have strong cashflow over the summer but run at a loss over the winter, meaning the crisis had hit them at a time when the group's coffers were near empty.
“We were at the bottom of liquidity," he said. "To be brutally honest, I don't really know anything about the future. Maybe we can resume some of the activities on the other side of the crisis. Right now we just don't know what the world looks like when we're on the other side."
The group announced that it was closing its two restaurants the week before the Danish government brought in its ban on sit-down restaurants.
At the same time Nordic Choice Hotels, run by the colourful Norwegian billionaire Petter Stordalen, has put the opening of the Villa Copenhagen hotel, which has cost 1.5bn Danish kroner to build, on hold.
"We were looking forward to opening Villa Copenhagen, but due to the restrictions we are late," Torgeir Silseth, the company's chief executive told Danish public broadcaster DR.
"Since the concept is designed to be a meeting place where Copenhageners can have breakfast, lunch or dinner together, it makes the most sense to postpone it until society is more normalised again," he said, saying the hotel hoped now to open on May 14.
Nordic Choice's founder and owner Petter Stordalen won the AHEAD design award in part for his work on Villa Copenhagen (see photo below).
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The Kadeau Restaurant group, which owns a one Michelin star restaurant on Sømarken beach on the island of Bornholm, and a two Michelin-starred eatery in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, on Monday filed for bankruptcy.
"We have had to throw the towel in the ring and file for bankruptcy. This crisis has hit us at the worst possible time," said Magnus Klein Kofoed, the group's chief executive, told Denmark's Finans newspaper.
He said that his restaurants tended to have strong cashflow over the summer but run at a loss over the winter, meaning the crisis had hit them at a time when the group's coffers were near empty.
“We were at the bottom of liquidity," he said. "To be brutally honest, I don't really know anything about the future. Maybe we can resume some of the activities on the other side of the crisis. Right now we just don't know what the world looks like when we're on the other side."
The group announced that it was closing its two restaurants the week before the Danish government brought in its ban on sit-down restaurants.
At the same time Nordic Choice Hotels, run by the colourful Norwegian billionaire Petter Stordalen, has put the opening of the Villa Copenhagen hotel, which has cost 1.5bn Danish kroner to build, on hold.
"We were looking forward to opening Villa Copenhagen, but due to the restrictions we are late," Torgeir Silseth, the company's chief executive told Danish public broadcaster DR.
"Since the concept is designed to be a meeting place where Copenhageners can have breakfast, lunch or dinner together, it makes the most sense to postpone it until society is more normalised again," he said, saying the hotel hoped now to open on May 14.
Nordic Choice's founder and owner Petter Stordalen won the AHEAD design award in part for his work on Villa Copenhagen (see photo below).
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