Grillstock to be formally liquidated

The Grillstock smokehouse restaurant brand with 3 sites is to be liquidated after falling into administration last year.

Neil Bennett and Andy John, directors at Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group, were appointed joint liquidators of Hedrick Ltd on 22 October 2018. Hedrick Ltd traded as US-style barbecue smokehouse Grillstock, which had a food stall in Bristol city centre as well as its three restaurants.

Predecessor company Grillstock Ltd had been placed into administration in November last year and ceased to trade on 1 December 2017.

At the same time, through Hedrick, two of its directors bought the business and certain assets and continued to trade the company’s restaurants and the food stall.

The successor company itself ceased trading on 12 October with all 23 employees made redundant.

Liquidators cited a pre-emptive clause enforced by the Bath outlet’s landlord, the increasing stock costs due to the loss of value of sterling as well as the inability to secure additional funds from investors among the factors for the company’s closure.

Another factor that contributed to the company’s demise was its festival business, the liquidators added. The US-style smokehouse had begun life hosting festivals of “meat, music and mayhem”. GS Festivals Ltd was incorporated in January 2018 and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hedrick Ltd. It had planned to host the Bristol food festival ‘Grillstock’ this year, however, the festival was cancelled at short notice due to low ticket sales, which liquidators said ’caused substantial damage to the brand’.

Joint liquidator Neil Bennett said: ‘We will shortly undertake a marketing exercise for the assets of the company for the benefit of the liquidation.’