The sale still goes on
Delicatessen Schlemmmeyer is insolvent
05/30/2023, 3:28 p.m
The delicatessen specialist Schlemmermeyer initially survived the Corona period well – despite several lockdowns and supply chain problems. However, according to the management, the economic situation has been critical since last year. The company is now filing for bankruptcy.
The delicatessen chain Schlemmermeyer GmbH & Co. KG has filed for insolvency. According to a press release by the provisional insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé from the law firm Jaffé Rechtsanwälte bankruptcy administrators, sales in the 16 branches of the delicatessen supplier across Germany can still continue for the time being. The wages and salaries of the around 130 employees are secured by the insolvency money for three months, i.e. up to and including July 2023. Jaffé has already taken the first steps towards appropriate pre-financing of the insolvency money.
According to the management, after a successful restructuring in 2019 and 2020, the company survived the difficult Corona period despite several lockdowns and the general supply chain problems. During this time, no short-time work was registered and no operational redundancies were announced.
“Since March 2022, however, the economic situation has become increasingly critical because the rapidly rising inflation, both in purchasing and due to customers’ reluctance to buy, has had a very negative effect on the development of sales and earnings. In addition to this cross-industry phenomenon, there have been problems in recruiting employees that went so far that individual branches had to be closed at least temporarily due to a lack of staff”, the management justifies the step. Most recently, the company still achieved sales of around seven million euros.
The provisional insolvency administrator is currently conducting an inventory and economic analysis with the aim of preserving as many of the branches and jobs as possible. The extent to which this can be achieved will only be shown by developments over the next few weeks. The initial situation is very difficult due to the persistent weakness in demand in retail and the looming recession in Germany.
Individual Schlemmermeyer branches are highly loss-making, while others, such as the one at the Viktualienmarkt in Munich, are consistently profitable. “We have to check for each location whether there can be a continuation perspective. This also depends on the interest of potential investors. This can be aimed at individual locations as well as at a complete takeover.