Cork's Black Rooster Peri Peri franchise proposes liquidator after a year in business

Black Rooster Peri Peri (not to be confused with Roosters Piri Piri which is another company) planned to expand into Ballincollig, Midleton, Waterford, and Limerick after it opened in Cork

Black Rooster Peri Peri franchise owner Reggie Sweetnam at the Cork branch which is now closing after one year in business. Picture: Brian Lougheed

UK restaurant chain Black Rooster Peri Peri has indicated that is has wound up its franchise based in Cork which opened last June.

Cluck Cluck, the Carrigaline-based holding company of the Cork-based franchise, proposed Gerard Murphy of Gerard Murphy & Co. be appointed as liquidator of the business during a meeting of creditors that took place last week.

Black Rooster Peri Peri, which is not to be confused the Roosters Piri Piri eatery which is also based in Cork but is a separate company, had ambitious plans to expand the chain across Munster when it opened in Cork, with others planned for Ballincollig, Midleton, Waterford, and Limerick.

“We are thrilled to bring Black Rooster Peri Peri to Cork and be the first to open in Ireland. We have been a fan of Black Rooster Peri Peri for years. We knew we had to bring it Leeside," Reggie Sweetnam said at the time.

However, the future of these expansion plans is now unclear as the restaurant in Cork is now permanently closed, according to Google. The Cork subsidiary restaurant is run by Mr Sweetnam but the Black Rooster Peri Peri chain was founded by Kevin Bell in in Scotland.

"We’re looking forward to seeing more stores opening throughout the country and can’t wait to see what the locals think,” said Mr Bell when the Cork restaurant opened. Mr Bell founded the business in 2017 and oversees more than several of these restaurants in the UK, which are mainly located in Scotland.

Black Rooster Peri Peri invested €320,000 in the Carrigaline location and created around 20 jobs. It is unclear how these jobs will be impacted by the company’s decision to appoint a liquidator.

Black Rooster Peri Peri and Mr Sweetnam were contacted for comment about why the Cork restaurant is seemingly no longer operating, but did not respond before publication. 

Hospitality has been hit with several economic headwinds in the last 18 months from surging energy bills to stubborn inflation and the recent staffing shortage before an anticipated tourism boom this summer. 

Meanwhile, Scottish bar BrewDog, which opened in Cork city in July, confirmed it ceased operations last month. The bar was run as a franchise by Cork owners, Westside Leisure, which also operate several pubs and nightclubs across the city including An Bróg, Alibi, Voodoo Rooms, BarBarella, and BarBarossa.

Westside Leisure said the closure was due to "continuing deterioration of economic conditions in the hospitality industry and ever-increasing operational costs".