Listen, Constantia moms – I’m going to need you to sit down for this one.

Melissa’s, which kicked off in Cape Town back in 1996 when Melissa and Mark van Hoogstraten opened a store in Tamboerskloof, filed for insolvency earlier this week.

Quick, get ‘the help’ to make you a double strength latte (soy milk), because Moneyweb have the inside scoop:

Having had a significant multiplier effect, the brand’s 19 stores – employing some 400-plus staff across the country – are now facing the threat of closing down.

Apart from its stores and an e-commerce platform, Melissa’s also supplied its products to around 300 national retailers.

Having confirmed the insolvency with liquidator Craig Hathorn, of Lynn and Hathorn Incorporated, Moneyweb learned that the situation was currently under investigation, with a comprehensive report on the much-loved brand’s downturn to its creditors expected by the end of July.

Noting that Melissa’s was “hopelessly insolvent”, Hathorn added that business rescue would not be the right vehicle for the liquidation. Currently, the liquidators would look at selling “the whole, or parts, of the business” as going concerns to maximise value for its creditors.

You really don’t want to hear the words “hopelessly insolvent” when people are referring to your business.

That’s Melissa and Mark van Hoogstraten above, in case you were wondering, with the picture taken from the Melissa’s ‘About’ page.

The next question is what went wrong:

Hathorn noted that at this stage it was too early to comment on what caused the delicatessen-meets-décor store chain to spiral into liquidation, while Melissa’s employees also preferred to remain mum.

The company boasted two concepts: the Melissa Food.Home.Gifts stores, where customers could shop for Melissa’s range of food and homeware products, alongside a sophisticated café-style restaurant serving light meals, cakes and artisanal coffee.

The second concept, Mantra Café, first opened its doors in December 2016 in Camps Bay, offering a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu and a full bar.

Melissa’s itself dubbed its business plan as a “winning concept”, with its unique retail and dining experience for “discerning customers with an eye for detail and an appreciation for quality”. It’s latest store opening was as recent as July 2017, when the South Coast welcomed the food store-cum-coffee shop at the new Ballito Lifestyle Centre.

It seems there have actually been more recent openings than the one in Ballito, with a Table Bay Mall outlet opening on October 31 of last year, and one in Hermanus in December.

Anyway, it sounds like a classic case of flying too close to the sun.

Nobody wants to see a local favourite go under, especially when you consider that they employ more than 400 people, but it looks like their goose is already cooked.

We’ll allow for two glasses of chardonnay with lunch today to help you get over this loss.

Thanks, Evan

[source:moneyweb]