The Italian restaurant chain Prezzo has said it plans to close 46 outlets in the UK, putting 810 jobs at risk, in a sign of the struggles for the casual dining sector amid the cost of living crisis.
Announcing the news on Monday, the company blamed inflation, saying rising costs made it impossible for it to make a profit in some locations.
The restaurants closures will affect sites across England and Scotland – from Plymouth to Glasgow – including five apiece in Surrey, Essex and London. The restaurants were closed permanently on Monday after staff were informed.
Restaurant chains have suffered in recent years from the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath. During Covid lockdowns casual dining was banned or restricted for months on end, and visits to many high streets have not recovered to their pre-pandemic levels.
On top of this weak financial situation, in the past 18 months the prices of food and energy have soared, adding to restaurants’ running costs and pushing customers to cut back on eating out.
Prezzo said its utility bills had more than doubled in a year, while the cost of spaghetti had risen by 40%. The cost of pizza sauce had risen by 28%, while diced mozzarella prices were up 18%.
The chain opened its first restaurant in 2000 in central London, eventually growing to 300 restaurants and 4,500 staff across the UK. However, even before the pandemic hit it had become clear Prezzo had overextended. In 2018 it closed 94 sites after reaching an agreement with creditors.
In late 2020 the private property investor Cain International bought the chain from TPG Capital, when the casual dining sector was reeling. Shortly afterwards Prezzo closed 22 restaurants with the loss of more than 200 jobs.
Dean Challenger, the Prezzo chief executive, said the company was making “tough decisions” amid “some of the hardest times I have ever seen for the high street”.
He added: “But 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.” The company said it would work to redeploy “as many staff internally as possible”.
Prezzo’s bosses said the cuts will affect sites where “the post-Covid recovery has proved harder than we had hoped”. The remaining sites will be away from hard-pressed high streets in locations that are still attracting visitors, such as shopping centres, retail parks, tourist destinations and travel hubs, Prezzo said.
The shakeup will leave the hospitality chain with 97 restaurants and about 2,000 staff.
The full list of closures
Beccles, Suffolk
Billericay, Essex
Bolton, Greater Manchester
Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Bracknell, Berkshire
Brentwood, Essex
Buckhurst Hill, Essex
Buckingham, Buckinghamshire
Chichester, West Sussex
Chingford, east London
Colchester, Essex
Corby, Northamptonshire
Didcot, Oxfordshire
Eastbourne, East Sussex
Egham, Surrey
Eltham, south-east London
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Epsom, Surrey
Fleet, Hampshire
Glasgow (St Vincent Place)
Hailsham, East Sussex
Harpenden, Hertfordshire
Livingston, West Lothian
Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Maidstone, Kent
Mere Green, Birmingham
Mill Hill, north London
Oxford
Plymouth
Redditch, Worcestershire
Redhill, Surrey
Rugby, Warwickshire
Shepperton, Surrey
Shirley, Warwickshire
Sidcup, south-east London
St Neots, Cambridgeshire
Stowmarket, Suffolk
Tenterden, Kent
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Weybridge, Surrey
Whitstable, Kent
Wickford, Essex
Wimborne, Dorset
Winchester, Hampshire
Woodford Green, east London
