Friday 22 May 2020 8:17 am | Updated: Friday 22 May 2020 8:18 am

Carluccio’s cuts 1,000 jobs but 30 restaurants saved in rescue deal

Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s has been bought out of administration by the owner of Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner, resulting in the loss of more than 1,000 jobs.

In total 40 Carluccio’s restaurants across the UK will close and 1,019 members of staff will be made redundant, administrators FRP Advisory announced this morning.

Around 800 employees will be transferred to new owner Boparan Restaurant Group, which has bought the remaining 30 sites in the UK. It also snapped up the Caluccio’s restaurant in Dublin in a separate deal.

FRP Advisory said it is working with the Redundancy Payments Service to secure payouts for the affected employees.

Joint administrator Phil Reynolds said: “The Covid-19 lockdown has put incredible pressure on businesses across the leisure sector, so it has been important to work as quickly and as decisively as possible in an extremely challenging business environment to secure a sale, which ensures the future of the Carluccio’s brand in the UK casual dining scene, retains a significant network of sites across the country and, critically, transfers a considerable number of jobs.”

BRG managing director Satnam Leihal said: “This acquisition is in line with our strategy to grow our restaurant group with quality brands. Whilst it is an extremely challenging time for the sector, we believe quality hospitality businesses will recover in the long term as people return to eating out.”