Brasserie T! announced Wednesday afternoon the immediate closure of its three Montreal restaurants, Sainte-Thérèse and Brossard, as well as the counter it opened at Time Out Market.
This is a decision made “with regret and as a last resort,” the company said in a press release.
“Shareholders are already looking for specialists in this area who are willing to acquire corresponding branches and hire existing employees. They were informed of the news on Wednesday morning,” it said.
Pandemic and inflation at play
According to the group's chef and co-founder Normand Laprise, restaurant traffic was good, but the company was unable to recover from the pandemic, which “occurred at the worst time in the network's evolution.”
“The operating costs of our production kitchen in Beaumont were too high to serve just three branches. So our operations were making losses,” he explained, adding that inflation also played a role.
The 130 laid-off brewery employees will receive their salaries as well as their bonuses and any reserves for their vacation.
“We have reached the end of our financial resources,” emphasized Christine Lamarche, partner and co-founder. “As the first few months of the year are increasingly difficult financially in the catering industry, we were unable to cope with them for next year.”
The chefs of the Toqué restaurant! will return to the kitchen on January 10th.