ADMINISTRATORS of the ill-fated Singapore Sam oriental food chain are looking to assign the lease of its York outlet.

Begbies Traynor, administrator of the Thai and Chinese food group, which recently overstretched itself and ran out of money, wants someone to take on the £25,000 per year rent at the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Village at Fulford.

Vivian Bairstow, joint administrator at Begbies Traynor, said: "We have had to take the outlet out of the balance sheet. It's probable that the lease there will be assigned to a new owner of the Singapore Sam business. Contracts are being studied."

But it was also possible that the outlet could be seen as a good inclusion in someone else's food chain portfolio, with a different name altogether, he said.

The 900 sq ft space at McArthurGlen is being marketed for the administrators by London property agent, Atisreal. The lease expires in November 2011.

Singapore Sam, which began in the late 1980s, rapidly expanded to 28 outlets, 23 trading as Singapore Sam, mainly at food courts throughout the country, and the remainder under the titles Zack's Deli, Hickory Grill and Hungry?

But over-expansion and choosing unprofitable outlets, led to severe cash problems for what used to be a highly profitable chain. In its last full trading year, turnover was about £7.5 million.

Mr Bairstow said: "We have already received a very serious approach for a number of the most interesting outlets and we expect many more offers from other parties.

"In particular, we anticipate offers from other fast food providers with existing outlets in shopping malls who know this market well and are likely to be interested in this exciting opportunity."