Zizzi’s in Bristol forced to close after alleged Covid-19 breach

A Zizzi restaurant near Bristol was forced to close by police as the authorities investigated an alleged report that staff were ordered to come into work while awaiting coronavirus test results.

According to the Guardian, the chain restaurant in Clifton village closed on Thursday, 29 October after staff reported the breach to the local police, however the venue has been reopened since Monday following a deep-clean. 

The restaurants supposed breach of Covid-19 isolation laws follows its founding group Azzurri’s announcement in July that it would close some of its 75 sites along with its sister brand Ask Italian, as the company struggled to stay afloat during the UK’s first national lockdown. 

At the time the move put 1,200 jobs at risk and the group had to ask investment firm TowerBrook to offer £70m to restructure the balance sheet and provide capacity for future growth.

A spokesperson for Zizzi told the Guardian: “We have clear Covid measures in place to protect the wellbeing of our customers and our teams, however on this occasion our strict protocols have not been adhered to.

“As soon as we discovered this, we acted decisively to voluntarily close the restaurant, with all team members self-isolating, and there is an ongoing internal investigation into the mistakes that were made.”

Catering today has contacted Zizzi for a comment