Carluccio's bailout saves under half of its restaurants

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 22 May, 2020

Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s has completed its bailout deal with Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), saving 30 of its 71 restaurants and costing 1,000 furloughed workers their jobs.

The ailing casual dining chain had appointed administrators on March 30, with the Boparan group, owners of the Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner chains, in talks to buy the company since the end of April.

The deal has now been completed for a knock-down sum of around £3m. This is an extraordinarily low price compared to the rumoured £90m that has been ploughed into the chain by its previous owners, Dubai-based Landmark Group.

The deal will be bittersweet for many, with only 800 of approximately 1,800 workers likely to keep their jobs.

The casual dining chain was in trouble before Covid-19 hit, with over expansion, rising rents, business rates and costs such as minimum wage leading to the closure of 35 restaurants in 2018.

Satnam Leihal, MD of BRG, said: “We welcome Carluccio’s colleagues to BRG. 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.”

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