The move sent shockwaves through the company’s workforce.

However, the 40 or so employees at the Dundee factory were left completely in the dark until the administrators from Aberdeen-based accountants Tenon arrived just before 11 am to confirm their worst fears.

Until then, kitchen staff were refusing to work until the position was made clear and suppliers had arrived to reclaim produce delivered to the factory just a few hours earlier.

Office staff said they had arrived this morning to huge speculation but they had been unable to contact bosses for clarification of the situation.

However, the administrators wasted no time in taking action, with closed signs placed in the windows of the Castle Street shop in Dundee within an hour of them arriving in the city.

The two Broughty Ferry outlets were also closed. A spokesman for the administrators said it was too early to comment officially and added that there was a due legal process to go through.

He added that the two administrators would be spending the whole day at the factory.

It’s understood that McLeish, which has a chain of nine shops in Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverurie and Glenrothes, is to close six of the shops, with only the outlets in Whitehall Street in Dundee and the ones in Aberdeen and Inverurie remaining open.

The move into administration came after HBOS allegedly pulled the plug on a £5.5 million loan deal. However, although the two parties had a long-standing relationship, HBOS ceased acting as bankers for McLeish Brothers in the middle of last year.

It is understood the decision not to go ahead with the £5.5 million loan was reached by mutual agreement once trading conditions had been taken into account and was not a unilateral decision taken by the bank.

HBOS was asked to comment on the situation today but a spokesman said they were unable to do so for reasons of client confidentiality.

Earlier, McLeish’s marketing and trading director Scott Milne said he, too, had only just heard the news en route to the office.

“I don’t know anything,” he said. “I’ve just had the story read out to me and until I speak to the managing director I won’t know anything. I have tried to contact him. It’s shocking.”

Another shocked staff member said, “If you can tell us what’s happening we would be grateful.

“Nobody has said anything to us. All we have heard is what was on the radio this morning.

“We have been trying to phone the bosses but we can’t get anyone.”

While the staff members in the office waited, head chef Gordon Knox was organising for supplies which had been delivered this morning by cash and carry company Booker to be uplifted and taken back to the supplier.

He said, “I’ve got 22 staff in there refusing to work until they hear officially from management that they have still got jobs.

“I’ve been on the phone to my boss and he doesn’t know a thing.”

Lorry driver Mick Muldoon said, “I’m off to the shops to pick up the empty trays, I heard first thing this morning when I delivered food to the shops but it was only what was in the papers.

“Nobody’s been told anything.

“I think we’ll all just have to eat the grub ourselves.”

A member of the kitchen staff contacted The Tele to say he had received a call at home this morning telling him not to come into work and that the factory was closing.

“It has been really quiet over the past month and you do think it’s too quiet to employ all those people, but we didn’t expect this to happen. A lot of people have been losing their jobs and it makes it even harder to get another job.”