Yahoo Finance Restaurant Group to permanently close up to 120 sites
Frankie and Benny's owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) is set to permanently close between 100 and 120 restaurants.
The PA news agency understands that the company, which also owns Wagamama, will not reopen these sites to customers when lockdown restrictions are relaxed.
Most of the closures will be of Frankie and Benny's sites, with smaller sister brands such as Garfunkel's also affected.
It is understood that no Wagamama sites will close.
The dining group said last year that it would close up to 150 sites in its leisure division, which includes more than 200 Frankie & Benny's restaurants, over the next five years.
However, sources close to the company said it had been "forced to accelerate" its plans due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Earlier on Wednesday, an email seen by the BBC said TRG was set to tell staff that many sites were "no longer viable to trade and will remain closed permanently".
The email adds: "The Covid-19 crisis has significantly impacted our ability to trade profitably, so we've taken the tough decision to close these restaurants now."
In March, TRG was forced to shut 60 of its Chiquito Mexican-style outlets as well as its Food & Fuel chain of pubs in London after falling into administration.
The company, which has about 22,000 staff on furlough, is one of the largest restaurant operators in Britain.
TRG declined to comment.
Shares closed almost 13pc higher at 73.9p in response to reports about the closures but remain less than half their level at the start of the year.
