High street Italian restaurant chain Prezzo is closing 46 of its "loss-making sites" across the country in a bid to sure up its long-term future amid what its chief executive is calling "some of the hardest times" for high street retailers.
The chain has been grappling with low footfall in some areas since the start of the pandemic as well as a "doubling" of its utility bills, which now represent more than 9% of total revenues. Its sites will drop to 97, from 143, while some 810 team members will be affected by the closures.
Prezzo, which was acquired by real estate company Cain International in 2020, has said its remaining sites "are in better locations to cater to changing consumer habits", such as shopping centre, retail parks, tourist destinations and travel hubs. The company has launched a consultation process and is working to "redeploy as many staff internally as possible".
The firm's chief executive Dean Challenger 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. That is why we have made the difficult decision to close 46 sites where the post-COVID recovery has proved harder than we had hoped.
"We will work to find suitable alternative roles in other Prezzo restaurants for all those hard-working colleagues impacted by the announcement and support those who cannot be accommodated in finding new opportunities."
Prezzo permanently closed 22 of its restaurants in February 2021 after being bought via pre-pack administration by Cain International. The brand first put itself up for sale in July 2020 as the pandemic-forced the closures of business across the country.
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."
Prezzo joins a number of restaurateurs to announce the closures of sites this year, with the owner of Frankie and Benny's and Chiquito closing 35 restaurants in March. Other Italian food restaurants, such as Zizzi, Ask Italian and Pizza Express have also closed sites in recent months.
The sites closing include:
- Beccles
- Billericay
- Bolton
- Borehamwood
- Boston
- Bracknell
- Brentwood
- Buckhurst Hill
- Buckingham
- Chichester
- Chingford
- Colchester
- Corby
- Didcot
- Eastbourne
- Egham
- Eltham
- Ely
- Epsom
- Fleet
- Glasgow, St Vincent Place
- Hailsham
- Harpenden
- Livingston
- Lyndhurst
- Maidstone
- Mere Green
- Mill Hill
- Oxford
- Plymouth
- Redditch
- Redhill
- Rugby
- Shepperton
- Shirley
- Sidcup
- St Neots
- Stowmarket
- Tenterden
- Tunbridge Wells
- Weybridge
- Whitstable
- Wickford
- Wimborne
- Winchester
- Woodford Green