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| Prezzo to close more a third of its restaurants as bills rise | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Italian restaurant chain Prezzo will shut a third of its restaurants after being hit by rising costs. | |
| The group said closing the 46 loss-making sites will put 810 staff at risk of redundancy. It said its bills had more than doubled in the past year. | |
| Prezzo said the shake-up would affect sites where footfall is still below pre-pandemic levels. | |
| It said it would keep its restaurants in busier shopping areas, such as retail parks and tourist destinations. | It said it would keep its restaurants in busier shopping areas, such as retail parks and tourist destinations. |
| Covid restrictions at the height of the pandemic forced many hospitality businesses to shut their doors and furlough staff. The financial recovery for thousands of bars, restaurants and other venues has since been hampered by rising costs, especially for energy. | |
| Prezzo, which went into administration in late 2020 before being bought by private equity firm Cain International, said the cuts affected restaurants where "the post-Covid recovery has proved harder than we had hoped". | |
| Staff were informed about the closures on Monday morning and the chain said it would work to redeploy "as many staff internally as possible". | |
| "The last three years have been some of the hardest times I have ever seen for the High Street," said Dean Challenger, chief executive of Prezzo. | |
| "The reality is that the cost-of-living crisis, the changing face of the high street and soaring inflation has made it impossible to keep all our restaurants operating profitably." | |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Companies | Companies |
| Employment | Employment |
| Hospitality industry | Hospitality industry |
| UK economy | UK economy |