Italian eatery closes nearly 50 UK sites

An Italian restaurant chain is closing multiple loss-making sites across the UK.

Prezzo is shutting 46 locations after being hit hard by soaring energy and food costs. The company said roughly 810 workers are at risk of redundancy as part of the overhaul.

Bosses at the private equity-owned businesses said the cuts, which are part of a broader strategic review, will affect sites where ‘the postCovid recovery has proved harder than we had hoped’. The shake-up will leave the hospitality chain with 97 restaurants and about 2,000 staff.

Three sites in Hampshire will close – Fleet, Winchester and Lyndhurst. The site in Chichester is also shutting but the restaurant in Port Solent remains open.

It said the closures will impact some high street sites as its portfolio shifts more towards those ‘in better locations to cater to changing consumer habits’ such as shopping centres, retail parks and tourist destinations. Staff were informed about the closures this morning, with a consultation process launched.

Prezzo said it will work to redeploy ‘as many staff internally as possible’ and will support others in new opportunities. The restaurant group added that costs have leapt over the past year, with its utility bills more than doubling and double-digit wage inflation.

It has also been impacted by soaring food inflation, which hit a 45-year high last month, with Prezzo witnessing a 40 per cent increase in the cost of spaghetti,28 percent rise for pizza sauce and 15 per cent increase in the cost of its dough balls.