Pie Face hopes to trade its way out of trouble

Australian bakery franchise group, Pie Face, which operates via 72 outlets, has gone into voluntary administration, though the company will continue to trade and expand globally.

Its administrator, Jirsch Sutherland, plans to try and restructure and refinance the company, which has a wholesale business, 28 company-owned stores and 44 franchises in Australia.

Pie Face was founded in 2003 by a former Wall Street banker Wayne Homschek, and it recently commissioned a new 3,000 square metre HCAPP-accredited central kitchen facility in Rosehill, Sydney.

The company has also expanded into the US, however, the company's US partner has reportedly closed six of his seven stores.

According to a Fairfax Media report, the company, which was planning to list on the ASX, tried to grow too fast.

Pie Face still plans to open at least 100 stores in the Middle East through an agreement with Dubai-based hospitality group Landmark with the first two Middle East stores to open this week in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Other stores will also soon open in Singapore, Japan, Korea and the Philippines early next year.