After more than twenty years, there is no more money in the bankrupt salad maker Fano Fine Food in Oosterwolde

There is no longer a cent to distribute, the court reports. Fano produced sauces, salads and sandwiches for supermarket chains such as Albert Heijn. The demise at the time was due to fraudulent management.

Parent company Koninklijke Smilde in Heerenveen had sold the group to the existing management two years earlier. Jeen Visser and his financial director Sake Koelma had big plans for Fano. With support from Fortis Bank, Commerzbank, Rabobank and Friesland Bank, the duo bought Belgian competitor Freshcom, an investment that would turn out disastrous.

After two years of losses, Fano Fine Food had become so shaky that bankruptcy appeared inevitable. Six hundred jobs were at risk.

Major job losses

Smilde bought back its factories in Oosterwolde and Emmen and was able to secure 210 of the 360 ​​jobs. Ultimately, Emmen closed and Oosterwolde was renamed Smilde Food.

The bankrupt Fano Fine Food was left with a significant debt. For example, the UWV benefits agency claimed 2 million euros, while the tax authorities claimed 2.9 million euros. This was followed by another 469 ordinary creditors, who had more than 17 million euros in the salad maker.

Four supervisory judges and three curators have been involved in the settlement of this bankruptcy in recent years.

Personally liable

In 2015, the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal held Fano’s former management duo personally liable for the bankruptcy deficit. Three years later, curator Romana Bremer reported that she would try to recover 5 million euros from Koelma, Visser and his wife.

“That will of course never work with these kinds of amounts,” responded Visser’s lawyer Mathijs Sturms. Ultimately, Bremer managed to reach an amicable settlement.

The final financial report of curator Bremer makes it clear that the trade creditors receive nothing. The preferential creditors (tax authorities and UWV) have been paid a total of 6.5 million euros. The salary costs of this bankruptcy amount to 1 million euros.