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PizzaExpress has closed another 23 restaurants in the UK, with discussions ongoing on a number of other sites. The move follows the closure of 74 restaurants last year after a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) in September. The CVA mean PizzaExpress managed to see reduced rents and also gave landlords the opportunity to terminate leases until […]
PizzaExpress is to enter a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) “in the near future” that could lead to the closure of 67 sites and job losses topping 1,000. The group said this week that it will reduce its UK restaurant portfolio and rental cost to ensure a more manageable and profitable enterprise. Divestment from the Chinese […]
PizzaExpress has announced further reopening dates for over 150 more of its pizzerias across the UK. 71 restaurants will reopen on Thursday 30 July and an additional 88 on Thursday 6 August. These next phases of PizzaExpress’ reopening plan follow successful ‘test and learn’ trials of delivery, click-and-collect and dine-in services at selected pizzerias since […]
PizzaExpress could well be in line to be taken over by its lenders in a debt-for-equity swap with owner Hony Capital, according to the Financial Times. Such a move is likely to include closures, though that such action has not yet been confirmed and remains speculative. It would be fair to say that the company […]
PizzaExpress has reopened 13 of its restaurants for takeaway, some three months into lockdown. The company announced the move earlier this week and following a delivery only trial, relaunched sites in Notting Hill, Camden, Balham, Chiswick, Belsize Park, Dulwich, Ealing, and Shepherd’s Bush, all of which will operate a click-and-collect service. Restaurants on Abbeville Road, […]
PizzaExpress has reported an earnings decline of 15.3 per cent in 2018. The company saw group turnover up 1.6 per cent to £543 million overall, but the fall in sales will worry bosses. The slip was, in part, at least, down to the challenges in establishing itself in international markets, the foremost being China, where […]
Olle, London W1 Jay Rayner for The Observer became the living window display he has so often admired when he dined at Olle, a Korean barbeque joint on Shaftesbury Avenue. The menu at Olle will be “broadly familiar” to those have tended to their own hotplate before – here, “they just do it very well” […]
In the wake of Channel 4 documentary Tricks of the Restaurant Trade which claimed to be ‘lifting the lid’ on industry secrets, Harden’s – the survey-driven restaurant guide and review site – asked consumers what they really think about outsourced food preparation. The Ch 4 programme, presented by Simon Rimmer along with Kate Quilton and […]
This week there’s been quite the hubbub about a new Channel 4 documentary series Tricks of the Restaurant Trade that claims to be ‘lifting the lid’ on restaurant industry secrets. The programme, which aired on Tuesday 19 January, discussed how many UK chains (like PizzaExpress, Leon and Frankie & Benny’s) use pre-prepared food from centralised kitchens and […]
The Observer’s Jay Rayner finds a very generous sunday lunch at reasonable prices (always a welcome surprise in central London) at the latest venture from the Goodman Group, Zelman Meats. This new meat-focused venue took over the site of keenly priced Soho seafood spot Rex & Mariano (also a Goodman enterprise) late last year… “Yes, […]
