Friends of Food: cost-of-living crisis drives Leeds takeaway formerly shortlisted as Restaurant of the Year into liquidation

A statement from Clarke Bell Insolvency Practitioners, the company appointed to place Friends of Food into liquidation, said: “Friends of Food was a Takeaway Food outlet founded in Leeds in 2019. It grew into a popular local hotspot with a loyal and passionate customer base.

“Covid had a considerable impact on the business, but it survived that. However, the cost of living crisis has proved too much – due to the sharp and rapid increases in the costs of electricity, gas, raw ingredients and labour. The business reached a point where the only option it had was to stop trading.”

A document posted to Companies House on 22 September shows that the company owed around £99,500 as it fell into liquidation. At the time of its most recent accounts, posted in March of last year, the firm employed nine people.

Friends of Food was founded by University of Leeds Alumni Lucas Leal Abadi, Dom Wood and Shaz Osborne, according to Leeds Live.

The group, who were all 21 at the time of Friends of Food opening, founded the company after becoming friends at university. They first launched a small business titled Friends of Jam, through which they would sell homemade conserves at local festivals, before going on to open Friends of Food in September of 2019.

The company was launched after a successful Kickstarter campaign saw the group raise just over £6,000 to cover setting-up costs.

The takeaway was located in the centre of the Hyde Park area of Leeds, a region which is home to a sizable portion of the city’s student population.

Clarke Bell Insolvency Practitioners worked with the directors to place the company into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation.

John Bell, senior partner at Clarke Bell, said: “The directors had put a huge amount of time and effort into this business, and it is a great shame that the business had to close down.

“However, the company’s directors were right to face up to their situation and be proactive to get the company into liquidation. It is far better to do this than to ignore your problems and hope that they go away. These types of problems don’t go away.”

Other firms in the region are also continuing to see the effects of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. The number of businesses in Yorkshire and The Humber facing insolvency related activity including liquidation has continued to rise, with August seeing a 6 per cent month-on-month increase, according to the latest figures from R3. Other parts of the country saw a double digit month-on-month increase.

Vegan food businesses have also been particularly affected in recent months, thought to be in part brought on by customers cutting back on costs. US-based Beyond Meat recently announced that its sales had fallen by almost a third, while Lincolnshire-based Plant & Bean LTD fell into administration in June.