'Burger King wrecked my empire'

13 April 2012

ONCE he was lord of Britain's burger bars. Along with a large and close-knit Greek-Cypriot family, Jacovos Kyrris ran the biggest chain of Burger King franchises outside North America.

Jacovos - known to everyone as Jack - operated 20 outlets with brothers Hector and Sotiris and sister Eleni. They sold fast food and drink worth more than £15 million every year.

But seven years ago, the company that Jack built collapsed and he has been out of work ever since. But he has not been idle. Jack has been working day and night to prove that the business failed because of the way the US-owned company handled his franchise.

And now the Kyrris family has filed a massive 79-page, £42 million lawsuit against the fast food giant.

Jack, 50, told Financial Mail: 'I just want justice - not just for me but for my family. We will see better days again.'

Jack's father, Andreas, brought his wife and six children to Britain from Cyprus 30 years ago. After 11 years in London, Jack moved to King's Lynn in Norfolk to run his first Wimpy restaurant.

'We were very successful and wanted to expand,' he recalls. They opened a second Wimpy in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

The family expanded the business to Nottingham in 1985 and still live there, all within a few minutes' walk of each other. They later opened a chain of Wimpy restaurants across Yorkshire. According to the family, trouble began four years later when Wimpy was taken over by Grand Metropolitan, which also bought Burger King's owner, Pillsbury. GrandMet decided to concentrate on revitalising Burger King, rebranding some of the Wimpy restaurants and selling others.

Jack recalls that the business was booming: 'I worked six, seven days a week, often from 9am to 2am the following day, and I believed in doing the best I could for the customers.' But Jack, who has four children, claims his company was forced into bankruptcy by Burger King.

He claims the company regarded him as a trouble-maker because he asked awkward questions about the cost of supplies.

According to documents submitted to the High Court, Jack's claims include:

£15 million for lost profits between April 1997 and March 2003.

£7.5 million in excessive supplier costs.The family claims it was forced to pay too much for raw products such as soft drinks, burgers and buns from Burger King's chosen suppliers.

£5.5 million for the undervaluation of his 20 restaurant sites when they were later sold.

£1.58 million for lost profits because of Burger King's failure to find alternative beef suppliers during the BSE crisis.

£1.1 million because of Burger King's failure to relocate the Meadowhall restaurant in Sheffield after rent rises over three years.

£6.86 million for failing to contribute advertising costs to market Burger King franchises in Yorkshire.

Finally, Burger King cancelled franchise arrangements, which, the writ says, was disproportionate and unlawful.

The banks then called in their debts and the Kyrris family business was forced to go into administration. The family's remaining 11 restaurants were subsequently sold for only £3.5 million - a fraction of their true value, according to Jack.

The effect on the family was devastating. Jack's wife, Georgina, had remortgaged their home for £100,000 to try to keep the company afloat. Reclaiming that money from Burger King is the subject of another legal action.

Jack, who survives on benefits and help from relatives, is determined not to give up. 'I have been in this industry for more than 20 years and it's the only thing that I know how to do,' he said. 'I had the best restaurants in the world.

'Each one was a masterpiece with Greek statues and pillars - they even had fish tanks.

'I put all my money into the business. But the more Burger King tries to grind me down, the more I will resist.'

Burger King was sold last year by Diageo, the drinks group created by the merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness, to its current owner, US venture capitalist Texas Pacific Group. A spokesman for Burger King said: 'This matter is being addressed by the courts and until it is formally resolved, Burger King is not in a position to comment.'

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in