Las Iguanas faces cash crisis, 47 UK restaurants at risk

A failed rescue at Las Iguanas would hit the restaurant floor first: rosters could change overnight, hours could be cut without warning, and staff at 47 UK sites could find themselves scrambling to know whether they still have a job, a transfer, or a final payday coming.

The warning came in London’s High Court on 6 May 2026, where lawyers for Iguanas Holdings Limited said the business had “fallen into financial difficulties” and could “simply run out of money” if a restructuring plan was not approved. The plan has now been cleared to go to a creditor vote on 28 May 2026, putting the future of the Latin American casual dining chain on a short clock.

The proposal would wipe out about £37 million of debt, bring in a £3 million capital injection from The Big Table Group, and cut rents on unviable leases. That matters for restaurant workers because lease problems are often where the pressure shows up first on the floor: tighter labour scheduling, fewer hours, delayed hiring, and managers trying to keep service going while head office decides which sites can still justify their costs.

There is also some confusion over scale. Some reports put the number at 44 Las Iguanas restaurants, while others say 47 UK locations are at risk. Either way, the message for staff is the same. When a chain starts talking about unviable leases and emergency restructuring, workers should be watching for reduced trading hours, sudden changes to rotas, transfers between sites, and whether supervisors start speaking more about preserving cash than building sales.

The broader group still looks healthier than the brand in distress. The Big Table Group says it operates more than 230 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, and reported group EBITDA of £13.9 million for the year ending 27 October 2024. Even so, it warned of continued headwinds in 2025, especially labour costs and the cost-of-living backdrop, two pressures restaurant teams feel immediately in wages, staffing levels, and guest spend.

Las Iguanas itself has been here before. The chain started in Bristol in 1991, joined The Big Table Group in 2015, and Las Iguanas Limited entered administration in July 2020 before Big Table bought the Las Iguanas, Bella Italia and Café Rouge businesses out of administration the following month. That history is why this latest rescue will be watched closely by servers, bartenders and kitchen staff: if the vote fails, the fallout could be fast, and if it passes, the squeeze on work hours and site-level stability may still follow.