Fredericton Burger Fans Saddened by Relish Closing
FREDERICTON – Relish Gourmet Burgers owner and co-founder Rivers Corbett announced the closure of the burger joint and the business’s intention to file for bankruptcy in the coming days in a Facebook post on Saturday.
In the post, Corbett thanked the Fredericton community for its support and explained that the sale of the majority of his and fellow co-founder Ray Henry’s shares to a Turkish investment group did not lead to the increased growth they were expecting.
“We embraced their offer to grow Relish nationally and internationally, as this group not only had significant funds to invest but also vast experience in growth expertise,” Corbett said in the post.
“Unfortunately, under the management of the new group, these plans did not transpire as we had projected. Over the past year, the entire company has been increasingly stressed in dealing with our obligations in our multiple locations in Vancouver, Edmonton, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.”
Corbett received an outpouring of support and hundreds of comments from disappointed customers on the post over the weekend.
“I never expected that type of response,” Corbett told Huddle. “I can honestly say – and I’m very proud of this part – that it reinforced to me again that Relish didn’t close because of bad products. The service and the quality of the food delivery and so on were the core of what made us successful.”
“The entrepreneur community came out in fine style and supported me, as we all do in the entrepreneur world. We know it’s hard, we know it’s tough.”
Although both Fredericton locations were closed as of Sunday, franchise locations in Halifax and Vancouver will continue to operate.