Fourteen Gloria Jeans franchisees operating in a Borders store will be forced to shut their doors by 30 May.
This comes after earlier in the year, Ferrier Hodgson, the administrators for Borders Australia announced that 16 Borders store will be closing as a result of REDgroup Retail’s company restructure.
But the coffee company has appointed Damon Smith, founder of Rockabee Consulting, to implement relocation strategies for those franchise partners that will be affected by the closures.
Gareth Pike, Gloria Jean’s Coffees general manager, said he is disappointed at the closure of the coffee houses.
“In this situation, our primary concern is our people and our overriding objective is to ensure business continuity for our franchise partners,” he said.
Following the development of a financial relocation package for affected franchise partners, the Gloria Jean’s Coffees management team in conjunction with partners agreed to a bespoke ‘continuity of trade strategy’ for each coffee house.
Smith will joint the development team for a four month contract to ensure effective implementation of these strategies.
“We continue to work closely with each affected partner and have a plan in place to assist all our affected coffee house team members. Damon’s appointment is crucial to ensure that the affects of this situation are minimised for our valued franchise partners,” Pike said.