oooooo memories
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_on_bi_ge/tribune
back in the early 90's when the last economic crash happened i was joint owner of a contract catering company back in the UK. we operated canteens on small and large building projects for the workers and one of our biggest contracts at the time was at canary wharf in london.
this was the largest building project in europe at the time redeveloping a huge area of derelict water side docking into the new financial district for london.
one of the main cliets was a massive american developer, privately owned by two brothers, and we had a canteen in one of the projects feeding up to 2000 buildes per meal.
part of our contract was to rent to the client all the kitchen and canteen furniture and supply them with food and beverages for the offices and meetings.
all went well until THEY FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION IN AMERICA
all work stopped and after 2 weeks of chaos in the offices the receivers took over and work - as it was - resumed.
at the time our company was owed about 20,000 sterling.
most of the 2000 workers on site were small independent subcontractors - like us, hard working entrepreneurs trying to earn a living.
ALL of us were given the choice of new contracts - take it or leave it.
ALL of us had to file individual claims against the developer who was allowed to restructure.
alot of the people didn't make it - they in turn were taken to the courts IN THE UK by their own suppliers.
we ourselves took about 3 years of hard work in a recession just to survive and fulfill OUR obligations.
did we ever see any of that money?
NOPE
year after year we were sent the courts accounts with more paperwork to fill in proving that our claim was still valid.
after about 6 months of the "protected bankruptcy" filing the whole development was restructured - a "new" developer, a "new "name.
guess who were the owners?
yep
the same two brothers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_on_bi_ge/tribune
back in the early 90's when the last economic crash happened i was joint owner of a contract catering company back in the UK. we operated canteens on small and large building projects for the workers and one of our biggest contracts at the time was at canary wharf in london.
this was the largest building project in europe at the time redeveloping a huge area of derelict water side docking into the new financial district for london.
one of the main cliets was a massive american developer, privately owned by two brothers, and we had a canteen in one of the projects feeding up to 2000 buildes per meal.
part of our contract was to rent to the client all the kitchen and canteen furniture and supply them with food and beverages for the offices and meetings.
all went well until THEY FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION IN AMERICA
all work stopped and after 2 weeks of chaos in the offices the receivers took over and work - as it was - resumed.
at the time our company was owed about 20,000 sterling.
most of the 2000 workers on site were small independent subcontractors - like us, hard working entrepreneurs trying to earn a living.
ALL of us were given the choice of new contracts - take it or leave it.
ALL of us had to file individual claims against the developer who was allowed to restructure.
alot of the people didn't make it - they in turn were taken to the courts IN THE UK by their own suppliers.
we ourselves took about 3 years of hard work in a recession just to survive and fulfill OUR obligations.
did we ever see any of that money?
NOPE
year after year we were sent the courts accounts with more paperwork to fill in proving that our claim was still valid.
after about 6 months of the "protected bankruptcy" filing the whole development was restructured - a "new" developer, a "new "name.
guess who were the owners?
yep
the same two brothers.
