All assets used for the Domino’s Pizza franchise, including 50 stores, are now up for grabs via auction following the liquidation of the large pizza chain, which affected about 770 employees.

Park Village Auctions (PVA), the same company that auctioned off Gupta assets, announced on Tuesday that the entire contents of the well-known national pizza franchise were open for sale. The assets to be disposed of included food preparation factories and about 50 fully-equipped stores.

The sale comes following instruction by the joint provisional liquidators of Taste Food Franchising (TFF), Taste Commissary (TC) and Taste Food Trading 1.

TFF owned and licensed the Domino’s business in South Africa.

Taste announced in March that it would be liquidating its food business in South Africa with immediate effect, following the group’s failure to sell the Domino’s licence in the country.

“As result of the liquidations, the company will have to fully impair the remaining inter-company loans with TFF and TC to the value of approximately R450million,” the company said in March.

About 770 employees would be affected.

In November, the Taste Holdings group said it would sell its Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza franchises in South Africa, retreating from a food industry that has been hit hard by the sluggish local economy.

PVA’s Andrew Dix-Peek said that the entire contents of the individual pizza outlets were to be sold, complete or as a combination of lots, distributed across the nine provinces.

“The stores - fully equipped - stand ready to trade, allowing an investor to ‘hit the ground running’ in the current economic climate where food for delivery or collection currently reigns over sit-down meals,” he said.

Domino’s has one store in the Eastern Cape, one in Limpopo and one in the Northern Cape, three in the Free State and North West, four in KwaZulu-Natal, five in Mpumalanga, 11 in the Western Cape and 28 in Gauteng.

Notable store contents up for grabs included pizza ovens, walk-in fridges and freezers, checkout counters and points of sale, and chairs and tables, among other assets.

The Domino’s preparation factories in Midrand, Cullinan and Milnerton were also to be sold in lots or in set combinations. The factories include Numafa tray washers, Macadams industrial mixers, bowl lifters and Benier rounders, among other contents.

The offers for auction are set to close at midday on August 5.

Domino’s Pizza joins a list of several eateries which are faced closure or financial difficulties due to, or prior to, the Covid-19 pandemic.

In April, popular food chain Anat turned to the crowdfunding website GoFundMe in an effort to remain afloat after they shut their doors when the country went into lockdown in March.

The aim of the crowdfunding campaign was to raise about R3m in donations to cover fixed costs that could not be paid for due to a total decimation of income.

This included the payment of Anat staff, who were waiting on UIF relief, and ultimately, to keep the business alive beyond the lockdown.

Meanwhile, hundreds of restaurants, coffee shops and takeaway establishments countrywide were on Wednesday to participate in the “Million seats on the streets” protest against Covid-19 restrictions to trade. “Due to the continual disregard for the restaurant industry, Restaurant Association of South Africa and various restaurants, takeaway shops and coffee shops will be embarking on a nationwide peaceful demonstration,” said lawyers from Mooney Ford Attorneys in a letter to the police on behalf of the association on July 15

Among the protesters’ demands is the call to allow restaurants to remain open for longer and to be allowed to sell alcohol in a safe and cautious manner.

The campaign will see tables and chairs being used to block roads outside various restaurants between midday and 2pm as part of a peaceful protest to highlight the impact of the lockdown regulations on the industry.

@Chulu_M

Botho Mosalankwe

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Domino’s Pizza franchise up for grabs after its liquidation