Piri-less times for Nando’s fans with two city stores shut
BOTH Nando’s restaurants in Derby city centre are among dozens across the UK temporarily closed to diners.
The Portuguese-inspired restaurant chain, known for its spicy peri-peri chicken, has temporarily shut its branches in the Market Place and at Derbion.
There are two reasons behind the Derby closures, with the Market Place branch shut due to not having enough members of staff.
This is an issue many hospitality businesses across the country are encountering, with some problems being put down to changes to EU worker rules post-Brexit and another reason being workers being told to selfisolate amid the Covid pandemic.
Double-jabbed people don’t have to self-isolate now if pinged by NHS Track and Trace. But few younger people have had both jabs.
A notice, posted on the door of the Market Place branch explaining to customers why it is closed, reads: “Our restaurant is temporarily closed while we recruit and train more team members in order to keep up with increasing customer demand and to ensure we deliver amazing experiences for you when we reopen.”
The sign goes on to say that all existing staff from the Market Place restaurant are working at the Derbion outlet.
But the branch at the shopping centre is also closed, due to staff shortages which Nando’s suppliers are facing.
The Derbion branch is among around 45 restaurants closed nationally, after some reported a shortage of chicken.
In a statement released yesterday, Nando’s said it intends to reopen all affected restaurants from Saturday.
A spokeswoman for Nando’s said:
“The UK food industry has been experiencing disruption across its supply chain in recent weeks due to staff shortages and a number of our restaurants have been impacted.
“However, since Monday, a team of our brilliant Nando’s staff have been supporting our key suppliers onsite – working to help get things moving again, and this has already had a positive impact on affected restaurants. From Saturday, it is our intention that all our restaurants will be open again.”
The Nando’s at Alma Leisure Park, in Chesterfield, remains open as normal for eat-in and collection, according to the chain’s website.
A poultry industry source told the PA news agency that warnings last month that EU worker rules and logistics issues would continue to hit food supply had not been heeded.
“We raised this issue with Government many weeks ago and nothing significant has happened since, so it is clearly not going away,” he said.
“We need new workers to come on board to cope with this demand, and while Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) have been helpful, the issue is with the Home Office.”