Leeds delicatessen and supermarket Myers Famous Kosherie has been put up for sale with its owner Malcolm Sorkin applying for a Company Voluntary Arrangement .
A legally binding CVA enables a company to freeze unsecured debts and repay them, with an achievable full and final payment, over a period of time from the future trading profits.
Mr Sorkin said: "We are not shutting down. Applying for a CVA is just a way of putting our creditors on hold during the sale process. What we have decided to do is something positive to ensure the future of the business."
He added that as his wife Debra - who works in the business - is seriously ill, his "priorities have changed. It's a business that can survive, but it needs a lot of attention and due to circumstances beyond my control, I cannot give it that attention any more."
A creditors' meeting has been called for January 7 for the Moortown deli which is in the heart of the Leeds Jewish community on Harrogate Road.
The business moved to its present site in 1984 from nearby King Lane under the ownership of the late Peter Myers. Joining Mr Myers in 1984 Mr Sorkin took over in 2003 when Mr Myers retired.
The city's 7,000 Jews are served by two other kosher outlets, the Street Lane Bakery and Gourmet Foods, both of which are also under the inspection of Leeds Beth Din and the Kashrut Authority.