Pizza Hut will shut 29 of its 240 UK restaurants in restructuring plans that puts 450 jobs at risk after suffering 'significant disruption' from pandemic
- Pizza Hut is negotiating a company voluntary arrangement restructuring deal
- Popular restaurant chain said it faced 'significant disruption' from the pandemic.
- It expects that 'sales are not expected to fully bounce back until well into 2021'
Pizza Hut has revealed plans to shut 29 of its 244 UK restaurants, in a restructuring move that will put about 450 jobs at risk.
The highly-popular restaurant chain said it faced 'significant disruption' from the coronavirus pandemic.
It said the affect of lockdown was so detrimental that 'sales are not expected to fully bounce back until well into 2021' despite a quick and safe reopening of sites.
Pizza Hut - which was founded in the US in 1958 - is the latest chain facing closures after casual dining sector suffered immeasurable losses during lockdown.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out Scheme gave the hospitality sector a boost last month, but many casual dining chains look set to struggle as winter rolls in.
Pizza Hut has announced plans to shut 29 of its 244 UK restaurants, putting around 450 jobs at risk (file image)
Pizza Hut said it is negotiating a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring deal and added that the move will not affect operations or jobs at Pizza Hut Delivery or related franchises.
The company - which was founded in the US in 1958 - is also trying to protect about 5,000 jobs it's remaining 215 restaurants.
A Pizza Hut Restaurants spokeswoman said: 'We are committed to doing the right thing, and in order to secure as many jobs as possible and continue serving our communities, we are working to reach an agreement with our creditors.
'While we are likely to see 29 Hut closures and 450 job losses, any measures we take aim to protect about 5,000 jobs at our remaining 215 restaurants, as well as the longevity of the business.
Pizza Express (file image) will permanently shut 73 restaurants and put 1,100 jobs at risk after restructuring plans were approved by creditors
'We understand this is a difficult time for everyone involved.
'We appreciate the support of our business partners and are doing everything we can to help our team members during this process, including speaking with those affected by the consultation.'
Pizza Hut is the latest in a raft of chains to shut sites after being hit by the lockdown.
The owner of Ask Italian and Zizzi restaurants plans to close 75 of its restaurants, putting 1,200 jobs at risk.
Meanwhile, Casual Dining Group, the owner of Bella Italia, Café Rouge, and Las Iguanas, closed 91 restaurants when it collapsed into the hands of administrators in July.
Back in June, The Restaurant Group, which owns Frankie & Benny’s and Garfunkel’s, said it would close up to 120 restaurants, with nearly 3,000 jobs lost.
Earlier this week, Pizza Express confirmed it plans to permanently shut 73 of its restaurants, putting 1,100 jobs at risk.
The closures span Aberdeen to Torquay, including its original site in Wardour Street in Soho, London, which opened in 1965.
Other sites across major cities including Birmingham, Bristol and Edinburgh are also set to stay closed for good.
The closures will affect one in six - or around 16 per cent - of its UK sites.
The company has said it will try to look for redeployment opportunities for staff affected by the closures.
Pizza Express' branch in Woking, Surrey, is not on the list of the 73 restaurants due to close. The Woking branch was mentioned by Prince Andrew during his televised interview with the BBC's Emily Maitlis last year.
More than 300,000 redundancies were planned by businesses across the UK in June and July as coronavirus wreaked havoc on the economy, new figures revealed.
Cafe chain Costa has said 1,650 staff are at risk of redundancy as it looks to cut costs amid continued uncertainty over when trade will fully recover following the pandemic
The crisis hammered UK firms as 1,888 British employers planned 156,000 job cuts in June, a sixfold increase on June 2019.
Some 1,784 firms made plans to cut nearly 150,000 jobs in July - almost a sevenfold increase on July 2019 - according to an FOI by the BBC.
The lay-offs have continued as Virgin Atlantic announced more than 1,000 additional job cuts on Friday, becoming the latest company to lay off large numbers of people.
It joined Costa to bring the total number of jobs lost in major redundancies to 2,800 last week alone.
The scale of the Covid-19 jobs bloodbath has been laid bare as new research suggests more than half of medium-sized businesses are planning job cuts as the Government's Job Retention Scheme comes to an end in October.
Coffee and sandwich chain Pret a Manger confirmed it has axed 2,800 roles from its shops
Nine out of 10 firms surveyed by business advisory firm BDO said they had already made up to a fifth of their staff redundant.
More job losses are expected in the coming months, with fewer than 10 per cent of respondents saying they have no plans for any job cuts.
Leaders of mid-sized businesses expressed concern over funding arrangements, with a third saying they can't continue trading for longer than six months, said the report.
Two out of five respondents reported the same or an increase in revenues compared to the same time last year.
Over half of those surveyed said they have either partially or fully reopened their offices or place of work.
Paul Eagland, managing partner at BDO, said: 'These figures highlight some of the very tough challenges and decisions businesses are faced with.
'The leisure and hospitality sector, in particular, is facing the double-whammy of both the furlough support and Eat out to Help Out schemes ending.
'The Government took bold action with its furlough policy which has undoubtedly saved many jobs and businesses.
'However, the harsh reality is that these are unprecedented times and we would encourage the Government to introduce policies that will help UK business survive and ultimately compete internationally.
'Other governments around the world are and will be introducing policies to protect their businesses.
'We must not fall behind, particularly with Brexit looming.'
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtODcxMzYzMS9QaXp6YS1IdXQtc2h1dC0yOS0yNDAtcmVzdGF1cmFudHMtNDUwLWpvYnMtcmlzay5odG1s0gFpaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltYWlsLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZS04NzEzNjMxL2FtcC9QaXp6YS1IdXQtc2h1dC0yOS0yNDAtcmVzdGF1cmFudHMtNDUwLWpvYnMtcmlzay5odG1s?oc=5
2020-09-09 10:37:16Z
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