Founder Helena Hudson, who originally launched the business back in 2004, said she had chosen to downsize following ‘a lacklustre summer’.
The business now operates just two sites - one on Whitefriars Street in Canterbury and one on North Street in Chichester having closed a second Chichester restaurant and venues in Cambridge, Horsham and Maidstone.
Speaking to MCA, Hudson said the decision to close the sites had been made before the autumn budget was announced.
“I promised myself that if consumer confidence didn’t pick up over summer, I’d do something instead of limping on to Christmas hoping that the budget would save the day, offering some relief for hospitality instead of death by a thousand taxes and cost increases,” she said.
“And, boy, am I relieved I had already made the decision to down-size before the budget. Because if we had kept all of our sites and remained the same business we were, we’d have been facing an increase of 51% on our business rates bills.
“This would be on top of a minimum wage increase of 4% and other increases being pushed through by suppliers, going through the same machinations as us.”
The Real Eating Company previously underwent a pre-pack administration in March 2023 that led to nine of its then 10 sites acquired by a new company set up by Hudson.