The Evening Standard reports that the chain, which has four standalone sites in the capital, says bank funding for restaurants has “effectively shut down”.
Bird says Metro Bank withdrew its overdraft facility ahead of a new site opening last year.
The restaurant group is working with restructuring experts BM Advisory and has up to four weeks to come up with a plan to stabilise the business, with options including new investment, a pre-pack sale or entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with shareholder approval.
Paul Hemings, who co-founded Bird with his wife Cara Ceppetilli in 2014, told The Standard one of these options was “imminent”.
Bird launched its first restaurant in Shoreditch in 2014, and has since expanded to Camden, Islington and the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre.
It also has a unit in the Wharf Kitchen street food market in Canary Wharf, and the team told BigHospitality last year they were in legals for a site in Brixton.