Restaurant chain Frankie & Benny’s plans to close up to 90 sites

The future of two Frankie & Benny’s eateries is shrouded in uncertainty after their owner announced plans to close up to 90 sites by the end of the year.

The Restaurant Group (TRG), which runs 350 Frankie & Benny’s in the UK, said in a statement: “As we continue to adapt to a fiercely-competitive casual dining sector, we will selectively be closing between 75 and 90 sites in our leisure portfolio”. This portfolio also includes Chiquito.

TRG said a number of the sites will be converted into Wagamama restaurants.

When IKB Insider asked about the future of the Frankie & Benny’s restaurants in Ruislip and Uxbridge town centre, a spokeswoman for TRG replied: “We will be updating on the plans for specific locations as soon as we can”.

TRG said Wagamama continues to drive growth in the business, with the pan-Asian chain reporting an 8.5% increase in sales in a recent period.

The group, which has 650 sites in total, slipped to a pre-tax loss of £37.3 million for the year which is a significant decrease from figures in 2018 which were £13.9 million.

It has seen other restaurant chains like Jamie’s Italian, founded by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver collapsed in May 2019.

Consumers spending less money in general has hit casual dining restaurants particularly hard.

The anticipated plan would see its leisure sites reduce to between 260-275 from 350 sites by the end of 2021, TRG said.

The impact on jobs was unclear at this stage, the restaurant chain indicated, as many employees will be affected by the site closures it would be a likely outcome to transfer to other outlets within the group.

Frankie & Benny’s Uxbridge: The chimes shopping centre, High St, Uxbridge UB8 1LA

Frankie & Benny’s Ruislip: 5 Old Dairy Ln, South Ruislip, Ruislip HA4 0FY