Prezzo will close 46 loss-making restaurants as it struggles with soaring energy and food costs.

The move will put around 810 workers at risk of redundancy, the Italian restaurant chain said, although it will try to redeploy “as many staff internally as possible”.

The private equity-owned business said the cuts will affect sites where “the post-COVID recovery has proved harder than we had hoped”.

After the closures, the chain will have 97 restaurants and around 2,000 staff.

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.”

The restaurant group said that its utility bills had more than doubled, and it has been hurt by the cost of food, which reached a 45-year high last month.

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It has seen the cost of spaghetti rise 40%, pizza sauce go up 28% and the cost of its dough balls increase by 15%.

Read more:
Inflation eases but still remains above 10% as food costs at 45-year high

“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,” Mr Challenger said.

The news comes just two years after the group shut 22 restaurants and cut 216 jobs.

It fell into administration late in 2020 before being bought by private equity owners Cain International.

The Prezzo restaurants due to close:

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.

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