Paris Bakery in Dublin faces winding-up order

The popular Paris Bakery on Dublin’s Moore Street faces a winding up order in the High Court today in a dispute with the business’s former accountants.

BMOL Partners, of Herbert Street, Dublin, initiated the petition to have the company wound up after serving it with a bill for €43,000 in fees.

However, Ruth Savill, one of the two directors of Paris Bakery and Pastry, says the company disputes the bill and will be making its case to the court.

Angus Donoghue, a partner with BMOL, said he did not want to discuss the case and that the partner directly involved was not available.

The bakery and restaurant has grown steadily in size over the past three years and now employs 70 people, Ms Savill said. It started out as a small business at the front of number 18 Moore Street, the Dublin Street famous for its fruit, vegetable and fish stalls.

Delicatessen
The business then built a kitchen at the back and knocked down a wall so the customers could see the bakers at work. Because it was turning away so many customers, Ms Savill said, it moved into number 19, where it has opened further restaurant space at the back and a delicatessen at the front.

It has also established a wholesale business, supplying 70 customers a day, including Starbucks, with bread and pastries. It plans to develop a wholesale delicatessen business.

Ms Savill, a former television journalist, said the business imports all its flour from France because the humidity in Ireland makes the wheat unable to produce flour suitable for baguettes and other types of French bread and pastries. The owner of the business is its second director, French baker and chef, Yannick Forel.

The latest accounts for the company – for the year to the end of April, 2012 – show that total liabilities exceeded total assets by €678,022 at the end of that period, a figure that grew from €237,936 over that financial year.

Directors’ loans to the company increased by €640,957 during the period, to reach €1 million by year’s end. The company bought bakery equipment worth €411,201, and fixtures and fittings worth €64,501 during the year.