Meatless Farm obtained more than £17m in losses after three years of operating in Europe, before declaring bankruptcy earlier this year.
According to The Grocer – which gained access to a new bankruptcy report from the Netherlands – the failed vegan brand’s bank account was almost empty and outstanding claims were “sky-high”.
As part of a strategy to serve the European mainland, Meatless Farm moved its head office from Leeds to Amsterdam in 2020 – but the move resulted in higher costs that exceeded monthly income.
The documents, filed by Dutch law firm De Vos & Partners, showed that Meatless generated revenues of less than €7m (£6m) since 2020 but racked up losses of almost €20m (£17,2m).
This is on top of the £50m in losses accumulated in the UK before it filed for administration in June, with bankruptcy following in the Netherlands soon after.
The bankruptcy report also revealed that third-party warehouse owners in the Netherlands, used to deliver product, were owed “substantial” amounts.
Meatless Farm owed unsecured creditors €1.1m (£946k) in Europe and more than €600k (£516k) to preferential creditors, alongside the £2m to outstanding to suppliers in the UK.
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Trustee Els Doornhein at law firm, De Vos & Partners, said in the report: “The group could not operate on its own.
“The board has stated that attracting enough investors to (continue to) inject capital into the company from 2022 onwards became increasingly difficult anyway.
“This is partly due to the pandemic, war in Ukraine and deteriorating economic conditions.”
Doornhein added: “In 2021, it also proved challenging to find enough new customers in Europe. Competition had increased greatly.
“Although sales are made to large supermarket chains in Europe, such as Jumbo, Kaufland, Rewe and Aldi, these larger supermarket chains in Europe would not always find the products innovative enough to add to their range,” she said.
Meatless Farm was saved from financial collapse by meat-free startup VFC back in June, after it made the majority of its workforce redundant and entered administration following a failed attempt to find new investment.
