Pizza Express to cut up to 1,100 jobs after enforced store closures
Pizza Express has unveiled plans to close 73 of its restaurants in a move that places 1,100 jobs at risk.
The dining chain confirmed on Tuesday that it had finalised a proposal to reduce its restaurant and rental costs via a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
The company, which has around 470 sites throughout the UK, said it hoped to redeploy some of its staff at other locations, but as many as 1,100 could be cut.
A number of the Pizza Express stores set to be closed are near to at least one other store.
UK & Ireland managing director Zoe Bowley said “incredibly tough decisions to safeguard Pizza Express for the long term” had to be taken.
“Today we have confirmed that 73 of our pizzerias are proposed to close permanently.”
She added: “Our focus is on our people whose jobs are impacted and we will be doing everything we can either to redeploy them or to support them in finding roles elsewhere.
“Hard as this process is, it will protect the jobs of over 9,000 of our colleagues and provide a strong footing for Pizza Express to meet future challenges and opportunities.”
It is the latest blow to the High Street, with retail and hospitality among the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus lockdown.
Pizza Express had been profitable at the majority of its stores before lockdown, it said, but enforced closures, the cost of reopening and the UK’s uncertain economic future had rendered the company’s rental costs unsustainable.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “These situations are never easy, particularly now for the retail, hospitality and leisure businesses on our high streets at the sharp end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Property owners, however, need to take into consideration the impact on their investors, including the millions of people whose savings and pensions are invested in commercial property, as they vote on any CVA proposal.”