Max Brenner Will Close The Majority Of Its Australian Stores Next Monday

Struggling chocolate chain Max Brenner will close the majority of its Australian locations next week, after administrators came to the decision that 20 of the company’s 37 stores are not salvageable.

A representative of McGrathNicol made the announcement last night, saying that the affected stores will close for good at 5pm on Monday, with the staff to be made redundant. He added:

“The decision to close stores is always regrettable but in this case we were left with no choice following a store-by-store review of Max Brenner operations. The remaining 17 stores in the Max Brenner network will stay open and it will be business as usual in these stores. These stores are profitable and will be offered for sale or recapitalisation.”

Max Brenner began as a small chain of chocolate shops in Israel, before opening up its first chocolate bar in Australia in 2000, then expanding to Singapore, the USA, Japan and other locations.

McGrathNicol say that there has already been a “high volume” of interest in purchasing the remaining stores, and more may be known after company creditors hold a meeting next week.

Fairfax published a list of stores that will close as of next week:

Max Brenner is the latest in a series of upmarket eateries to face financial uncertainty in Australia, after the collapse of the Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain and Adriano Zumbo‘s patisseries.