Jobs safe as pizza chain buyer found

THE 400 jobs put at serious risk, before Christmas, because of the Four Star Pizza chain going into examinership, have been saved with a buyer for the company being found.

It was announced yesterday, that the Bray-headquartered company — which currently has 37 franchised outlets operating around the country — is to be purchased, pending formal High Court approval, by Gonville; an investment vehicle owned by entrepreneur and hotelier, Michael Holland, who owns the Fitzwilliam Hotel, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

A short statement, released yesterday on behalf of Gonville, said that a key element in the company’s decision to purchase Four Star was “the ability of the company to repudiate the leases of the franchisees through the court, which were then re-negotiated on better terms.”