Under-fire Worthing chef Kenny Tutt said there was no money in the bank to pay staff on time – 'but they will be getting what they are owed'

Pitch restaurant, in Warwick Street, shut for the final time at the end of July – with ‘economic struggles’ blamed for the decision to appoint liquidators.

A letter to a member of staff from independent business advisory firm Quantuma, which has been seen by the Worthing Herald, referred to liquidators being appointed for Pitch Foods Ltd and informed staff their contacts of employment were terminated as of Monday, July 31.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Tutt said: “The reason Pitch came to close is nothing more than the restaurant took on a huge amount of debt over Covid.

"From that point, we were trying everything possible to keep that site going.

"It's a big building. The utilities were astounding the way they jumped up from £1,500 a month, for gas and electric, up to £5,000 a month. That's just one utility without water and food prices increasing.

"We use a lot of oil in the kitchen and that went from £19 a barrel to nearly £40 a barrel. Everything shot through the roof.

"We explored all the avenues. We looked very deeply into an administration route where there would be some possibility of selling the business. We tried exploring it for a couple of months and nothing came of it to the point where we ran out of time.”

Mr Tutt, who won MasterChef in 2018, closed Bayside Social on Worthing seafront in April, before it was announced he would be opening a new Patty Guy burger restaurant in Worthing Dome cinema.

Following the closure of Pitch, the celebrity chef has faced backlash online, with disgruntled workers alleging on social media that they were not informed of the closure. Some claim they found out the news online and say they haven’t been paid their wages, forcing some to need to use foodbanks.

A lengthy post published on a Worthing Facebook page claimed staff are owed wages, holiday pay and tips. It added some staff now cannot pay their rent or even afford to buy food as their income has suddenly stopped without warning.

In response to claims made against him, Mr Tutt added: “We had to make the hard decision of going down a liquidation route which was extremely tough. We were trying to make sure everyone was aware.

“I told the staff and released it to the public all in the morning and early afternoon. It's a tightrope no one can walk particularly well.

"It's a very difficult situation. You have to speak to many groups. Of course the fantastic team, suppliers, public, people with bookings.