3,000 face axe as Frankie & Benny’s close restaurants

CLOSE to half of all Frankie & Benny’s restaurants will not reopen after the lockdown is lifted – which will mean up to 3,000 job losses.

Between 100 and 120 restaurants will close, with those on retail parks expected to be most vulnerable, insiders said.

Owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) last year announced it would close 150 outlets by 2025, but the pandemic has meant much of that plan has been condensed into six weeks.

The group has 240 Frankie & Benny’s, 140 Wagamamas, and 150 pubs and concessions among its 600 outlets but the lockdown has starved it of cash and it is feared that the shuttered restaurants will not be profitable for many years as social distancing limits the number of diners allowed.

Bosses are also facing a big bill for personal protection equipment and screens to keep customers and staff safe.

The pandemic struck as chief executive Andy Hornby battled to turn around ailing fortunes.

An email to staff, leaked yesterday, said: ‘The crisis has significantly impacted our ability to trade profitably, so we’ve taken the tough decision to close these restaurants.’

TRG, which entered the crisis laden with debt from its acquisition of Wagamamas, has already placed 60 of its Tex-Mex dining chain Chiquito restaurants into administration, putting around 1,500 jobs at risk.

It also appointed restructuring firm RSM as administrators to one of its pub businesses, Food & Fuel, which it bought for £15m in 2018.

All Frankie & Benny’s and seven Garfunkel’s sites have been struggling from lack of investment for years, and less custom in retail parks.

The shutdown has put Britain’s hospitality industry in crisis and industry groups have warned that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost this year. In total TRG has 22,000 staff on furlough.