Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito owner to shut 35 restaurants as chains struggle

Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) has cautioned over job losses after revealing plans to shut around 35 of its loss-making casual dining locations.

The group, which also owns pan-Asian chain Wagamama, said the closures would help it shore up cash after reporting widening losses over 2022. TRG said it was unable to confirm whether any of its restaurants in Greater Manchester were among those earmarked for closure.

Andy Hornby, TRG’s chief executive, said the move forms part of a “robust plan” to improve the group’s margins over the next three years.

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He told the PA news agency: “Every year a number of leases come up for potential renewal, so the vast majority is where we are going to selectively – and we haven’t fully decided yet, we are going to constantly review the way the sites are trading – exit a number of those, rather than renew the lease for another five or 10 years.

“We will manage that on a localised basis, and the teams will be the first people to know. But we are not closing any sites that we think have got long-term profitable futures.”

Up to three of the sites will be converted to Wagamama over the next two years, and the rest will be sold or the leases will be exited or left to expire. Mr Hornby said the business would try to offer deployments to staff across the affected sites wherever possible, although did not specify how many jobs would be impacted.

He added: “A significant number of these potential sites are in areas where we have other brands, so the job impact should be significantly less than you might think from the number of sites that we will not be renewing.”

The plans come after