A filing on Caseboard shows the group made the application on Friday 13 June to the High Court and was represented by London-based law firm Francis Wilks & Jones.
Restaurant has contacted Busaba for comment.
Once the darling of the Thai restaurant scene, Busaba has faced numerous challenges over the past several years.
The group, which was launched by Wagamama founder Alan Yau in 1999 and at its peak operated 16 restaurants across the UK, completed a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in 2020 that left it with 12 sites, all based in London.
This followed a tough few years pre-pandemic that saw Busaba’s profits fall and the group’s regional estate, which once included sites in Manchester, Liverpool and St Albans, decimated.
Recent years has seen Busaba attempt new concepts and ideas including an izakaya-inspired bar called Ajia, which opened alongside a new restaurant in Oxford in 2022.
Both sites subsequently closed in 2023.
In May last year, Busaba CEO Winston Matthews told MCA, Restaurant’s sister site, that the group was to trial a new wet-led concept targeted at a younger audience in London’s Westfield Stratford over an 18-month period.
The plan was to see the group’s existing restaurant within Westfield Stratford overhauled, with the group set to establish a new site under its core concept in another area within the shopping centre later in the year.
According to Busaba’s website, however, the group only currently has a single site at Westfield Stratford, which appears to operate under the core concept with a drinks menu that mirrors that served at other sites.
More recently, Busaba has also closed London restaurants in Bloomsbury and Kingston.
A message on Busaba’s Facebook page confirmed the closure of the Bloomsbury restaurant in late April.
It read: “It’s with great sadness that we announce the closure of our Bloomsbury restaurant, as our lease has come to an end. After many wonderful years, we’ve agreed with our landlord that it’s time to say goodbye to this beloved location.”
Buasba’s estate currently consists of six locations in London and a single regional outpost within the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex.