Brasserie De Kroon and restaurant De Bakker & De Schenker, catering companies on the Brink in Assen, were declared bankrupt yesterday. Both companies have a rent arrears and tax liability, partly as a result of the Coronape period.
The staff, about 25 people in total, was already sent home last weekend. The two catering establishments were run for years by manager Renate Vos, together with her partner Berthold Ziengs, former provincial VVD politician.
Curator in the bankruptcy is Jeroen Sprangers of Rein Advocaten. He will see if there is possibly a future for the brasserie and the restaurant, but then under another hospitality entrepreneur. “Hospitality entrepreneurs can start this company debt -free. This is at this place. You can continue with a different, new formula.”
But after yesterday’s bankruptcy judgment, Sprangers would prefer to ‘be on the site’ first. “Turning on here, to have a better chance of a fast restart, makes no sense. There is too little stock to open again. The whole thing has been closed since Sunday and the staff had been sent home,” says Sprangers.
According to him, there is rent arrears among the two different property cousins and a tax liability, but not a very hefty debt. “But I don’t have to answer all the questions, such as what exactly gave Nekslag. I have to look at everything in more detail.”
Sprangers, however, points out the overall malaise that plays a lot of catering businesses because of the corona years, because they are missing special support schemes.
In 2016, former VVD State member Berthold Ziengs took the initiative for the Bakker & De Schenker, which he established in the building of a former ice cream parlor on the Brink. In Janari 2020, the neighboring catering company De Kroon was taken over.
The following years, in 2021 and 2022, De Bakker & De Schenker will expand further, with branches in Meppel and Roden, in the middle of the Coronap period. The one is still running in Roden, the business in Meppel has already been divested.
According to Sprangers, the dismissed staff will soon receive their wages and holiday pay, despite the bankruptcy. The UWV takes over that payment.