Nardini cafe melts into receivership

[Celyn]

Nardini cafe melts into receivership

From the [i]Scotsman[/] newspaper website today. http://www.scotland.com/forums/showt...threadid=13893

TRACEY LAWSON

NARDINI’S, the historic Italian cafe on the esplanade at Largs, went into receivership yesterday.

The world-famous art deco cafe, around which the Nardini ice-cream empire was built, is up for sale after receivers took control of its parent company, P Nardini & Sons Ltd.

The business, which has served sundaes to holidaymakers on the Ayrshire coast since 1935, has debts of almost £1 million, said the receiver, Ernst & Young.

Scotland’s most famous ice-cream empire has been the focus of a family feud since it came under the influence of entrepreneur David Hendry, who joined five years ago.

A buyer is also being sought for the Nardini Dairy Ice-Cream Company Ltd, which manufactures the renowned brand, after its majority shareholder, Hendry Holdings, also went into receivership, owing more than £1 million to creditors.

And four cafes operated under the Nardini brand in Glasgow and East Kilbride were closed yesterday after the parent company Hendry Catering Ltd went into receivership. It has debts of about £500,000.

Yesterday’s developments were the latest chapter in the saga which has embroiled the family firm in recent years.

The cafe at Largs was created in 1935 by Pietro Nardini, an Italian immigrant who moved to Scotland from Tuscany in the 19th century. In the decades that followed it became a favourite destination for holiday-makers who flocked to the west coast. However, it lost out to the foreign package holiday boom of the 1970s.

In 1997, Pete Nardini, its then chairman, asked Mr Hendry to join the company. Mr Hendry had grown rich from the sale of his funeral parlour empire, and Pete hoped his commercial acumen would turn the Nardini fortunes round.

But the move was bitterly opposed by Pete’s three cousins, Riccardo, Roberto and the late Fabio, who resigned from the company in protest.

A year later, Pete’s younger brother, Aldo, claimed he was forced from the board. Two years ago the business was put up for sale for £3.5 million but failed to secure a buyer.

Aldo, who is the father of Daniela Nardini, the Scots actress, later fought and won a legal battle with Mr Hendry to use the Nardini name on ice-cream sold in two cafes he opened with his sons in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Last night Aldo, who retained a 20 per cent stake in P Nardini & Son after being forced off the board, spoke of his dismay.

He said: "I am absolutely heartbroken. I said when David Hendry was brought in to the company that running a funeral parlour was different to running an ice-cream parlour. Sadly I am right. I have had no control over the company in recent years, as I had just a small share. The company is worth nothing - so I have lost nothing. But my children have lost what they should have inherited. My grandfather’s heart would break."

Colin Dempster of Ernst & Young last night said he was "cautiously optimistic" about finding a buyer for the cafe, which had been "trading well".

The receivers also blamed the 11 September terrorist attacks and the foot-and-mouth epidemic for hitting tourist trade at the Largs cafe, which employs 60 people and will continue to operate while a buyer is sought.

Pete Nardini, who retired from the company three years ago, was unavailable for comment last night.

However his cousin, Roberto, said that while the cafe which made the Nardini name famous is in trouble, the family continues to thrive in Largs with business not connected to those in receivership.

Roberto operates Nardini at the Moorings and the Green Shutters Tea Room in Largs, as well as La Caramella, a confectionery company. His twin brother, Ricardo, operates Nardini at Regattas, a bar-diner. None of these companies are in any way linked to those which have gone into receivership.

Roberto said: "Our businesses are doing very well. The old Nardinis always thrived because of the special commitment that comes with a family business. Once that had gone, it was just a matter of time before it died."