Prezzo to shut down 46 restaurants
The chain has seen key costs rise in the past year including more than doubling of utility bills which now represent 9% of total revenues as well continued inflationary pressures on core ingredients
Italian restaurant chain Prezzo has announced a strategic review of its business that will see the closure of 46 of its sites.
The move will affect more than 800 workers who will risk redundancy, although the company said that it will try to “redeploy as many staff internally as possible and will support others in finding new opportunities”.
The company said it had informed all affected colleagues today (Monday 24 April) of the closures and launched a consultation process. The remaining Prezzo restaurant portfolio includes restaurants which are in better locations to cater to changing consumer habits such as shopping centres, retail parks, tourist destinations and travel hubs.
Dean Challenger, chief executive of Prezzo, said: “The last three years have been some of the hardest times I have ever seen for the high street and I’m extremely proud of the way our colleagues have retained Prezzo’s position as an appealing, trusted, great value food and drink experience.
“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.”
Despite being bought out of administration by Cain International in 2020, Prezzo is the latest restaurant struggling with the high energy and food costs.
The chain has seen key costs rise in the past year including more than doubling of utility bills which now represent 9% of total revenues as well continued inflationary pressures on core ingredients, such as the cost of spaghetti which rose 40%, and double digit wage inflation.
The news comes just two years after the group shut 22 of its restaurants. With the upcoming cuts, Prezzo will have 97 restaurants and 2,000 staff.
Challenger added: “We believe the tough decisions we are making today will ensure Prezzo can continue serving communities with high-quality, accessible Italian-inspired meals for many more years to come.”
