Franchises in the Dolphin Centre, Winton High Street, Ashley Road in Parkstone, Jubilee Close in Weymouth, Lyndhurst Road in Christchurch, The Triangle in Bournemouth The city centre and Wessex Gate have all been sold to Wembley-based Adil Group.
They were all owned by Caskade, another London-based company with franchises across the UK which went into administration in June.
Joint administrators Gary Shankland and Robert Ferne of Begbies Traynor LLP have been appointed to settle Caskade’s finances.
KFC in Westover Road is in receivership (Image: Daily Echo)
KFC at Christchurch Road in BoscombeBarrack Road in Christchurch, Westover Road in Bournemouth, Station Road in New Milton and St Mary Street in Weymouth have all been closed by administrators.
Caskade was also the original applicant for the planned Lansdowne Crescent restaurant.
Meanwhile, in the administrator’s documents on Companies House, several Dorset companies appear to owe money to Caskade’s three companies.
Ace Plumbing and Heating, of Boscombe, is owed £4,947, Birks Electrical Contractors of Wimborne is owed £7,244 and Bournemouth-based property management company Ellis and Partners is owed £11,804.
Bournemouth law firm Steele Raymond is owed £3,775 and Poole-based firm Strato Homes £18,750 – in total the Dorset firms are owed more than £60,000.
A spokesperson for KFC UK and Ireland said: “We constantly review our portfolio of over 1,000 restaurants and from time to time we have to close restaurants.
“A handful of restaurants in Dorset and Hampshire have recently been closed.”
KFC is highly unlikely to open in Lansdowne (Image: Daily Echo)
Administrators Begbies Traynor LLP said in their report that 40 branches were sold to the Adil Group for £17.55m, including £100,000 for the lease of the Tower Park restaurant.
In June, when Caskade’s accounts were examined, the group added that it owed around £11.5m to KFC, including £3m in unpaid tax arrears to HMRC.
Caskade bosses have taken a number of steps to cut costs, including head office job cuts and switching cleaning companies to save £100,000 a year.
The report states: “Throughout 2023 and into the first quarter of 2024, management of the companies sought to sell the group’s shares and discussions in this regard resulted in a non-binding offer from an unrelated third party.
“However, it is understood that this offer has been revised significantly downwards due to concerns about the underlying financial performance of the group and broader due diligence concerns.
“Ultimately, these negotiations did not reach a satisfactory conclusion and the third party withdrew its interest.”