Galery

1

The news that the American chain AppleBee's closes its restaurants in Greece broke out suddenly and without warning. The chain has about 1650 casual dining restaurants and there are six in Greece. In view of the deepening recession and the selective default lurking around the corner, many would assume that such closure is not unusual.

The strange thing in this story is that a single phone call led to this, warning the employees on Friday, 15 July this year that they are out of work from the next day. Unlike other known cases of bankruptcy like Lakis Gavala’s in the last week or the Atlantic supermarket chain, the management of MILOMEL HELLAS, which holds the rights of AppleBee's, has not given any sign that it is willing to close the business.

Around 150 people have lost their jobs overnight without an explanation. According to the blog Planet-Greece, the people working in the chain stores had to leave work without being paid a compensation and the salaries of some employees are overdue by more than two months. At the same time, in some of the restaurants, there were job openings for waitresses and support staff until the last minute despite the difficulties. The management did not give any hint of bankruptcy or closing, until one day it dismissed the people over the phone and the company's offices were emptied.

AppleBee's brand is represented in Greece by MILOMEL HELLAS, which holds the exclusive rights to use it in both Greece and the whole Balkan Peninsula. The manager of the company is Maria Tzanes Gorica. The first restaurant from the chain was opened at the 11^th km of the road from Thessaloniki to Macedonia Airport in 1997. After three years, the company expanded and opened its first restaurant in the Athens seaside suburb of Glyfada. This restaurant was very successful and based on weekly sales it has received the award for the most successful AppleBee's in the world for 2005. In the mean time, the company opened three more restaurants in the capital in 2002 - on the Alexandras Avenue, Kefalari Square in the northern suburbs and Fokionos Negri Street.

The difficulties began in 2009 when the revenues dropped to 9.5 million Euros from 12.2 million Euros in the previous year. Two years ago, the company recorded losses of 920,000 Euros after the very hard 2008, when it had a negligible profit. At the same time, MILOMEL HELLAS has 1.45 million Euros long-term liabilities to banks and 2.19 million Euros short-term obligations. Its other debts and expenses exceed 7.95 million Euros and its turnover is insufficient to cover the total obligations of the company.