THE PrimaDeli food poisoning saga has claimed another victim - the owners of a franchise outlet in the western part of Singapore.
Already facing financial difficulties, the couple who run the franchise may now have to file for bankruptcy because of the temporary closure and the recent bad press.
Saddled with personal debts of nearly $300,000 even before the incident, they had scouted around for a buyer to take over their business.
But he backed out when the scandal broke.
Speaking to The New Paper yesterday, franchise owner Mrs Tan (not her real name) said in Mandarin: 'All our hopes are gone.'
The couple, in their early 50s, refused to be named because they were afraid of suffering further negative repercussions.
Said Mrs Tan: 'We were in the final stage of talks to sell our shop to a potential partner.
'He told us that he wanted to see how the takings go for the festive season, as Christmas and Chinese New Year are around the corner.'
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) had ordered the PrimaDeli factory to stop operations on 4 Dec after more than 150 people came down with food poisoning.
The cases were traced to chocolate cakes from the company's bakery outlets.
The authorities later broadened an initial recall on the cakes to include all bread, pastries and cakes made by PrimaDeli and sold at 39 outlets islandwide.
The homegrown bakery chain decided to temporarily close all the retail outlets from 5 Dec.
While negotiations on compensation carry on between the 39 franchisees and the company, Mrs Tan said: 'We don't know what is the final sum and how long it will take before the settlement comes in.'
OUT OF TIME
Time, she added, was not on their side.
Her husband said: 'We have creditors who're hounding us for payment.
'We also have to worry about paying our employees.'
The couple have five employees, including baking hands and counter staff.
Mr Tan did not want to elaborate on his financial problems except to say they were personal and that 'some debts were incurred because of my habitual gambling'.
He added: 'I know I'm partly responsible for what has happened.'
And because of the mounting debts, Mr Tan said he had resorted to 'borrowing from A to pay B'.
In all, they estimated their total debts - which included arrears in shop rental fees and salaries owed - to be close to $300,000.
Mrs Tan said they had been struggling for the past six months and it was only in October that they decided to sell their business. Their average daily takings are $1,000.
She said: 'We discussed it with our daughter, and we felt it was the best way out.'
But they had yet to inform PrimaDeli of their intention to transfer the franchise.
'We wanted to do it only when everything was confirmed, but now...' said Mr Tan, slapping his forehead in frustration.
'And since the buyer pulled out, my daughter has refused to talk to me.'
Breaking down, Mrs Tan added: 'We just went to see our company lawyer to find out what is the best recourse of action.'
She said they had been advised to consider filing for a bankruptcy petition.
But Mr Tan said: 'I really hope we don't have to come to that.
'We can only pray hard now.'
When contacted, the potential buyer, Mr Patrick Kwek, confirmed that he had abandoned his plan to take over the shop.
He said: 'Of course, there's no telling what the after-effects are.
'It'll possibly take a while for the dust to settle - but who knows how long that will take?'
Ms Pansy Wong, deputy general manager of PrimaDeli, was surprised to learn of Mr Tan's situation.
She told The New Paper: 'PrimaDeli has been keeping in close contact with the franchisees since the incident.'
This included meeting them to discuss the compensation issue.
She said: 'Most of them have expressed their full support.
'Their primary concern is to get the operations up and running first.'
She added: 'We want to reassure all our franchisees that the compensation package will be presented to them after operations have resumed.'
She also said that pending finalisation of the package, the company would be making advance payment sometime next week to help the franchisees offset some of their overhead costs.
