Pizza Express to axe a further 1,300 jobs

Pizza Express will reportedly cut 1,300 additional jobs across its 370 UK restaurants attributed to poor sales and the continued impact of Covid-19, according to the BBC.

The losses come weeks after the firm launched a CVA bid that proposed 1,100 jobs would be cut and 73 restaurants close.

The group previously said the decision to launch a CVA was made due to EBITDA across its estate having declined for the last three years, despite trading “profitably” before lockdown.

Combined with higher costs, as well as future uncertainty over the state of the economy, Pizza Express has concluded that its rental cost base was “no longer sustainable”.

The company, which began with one restaurant in London’s SoHo district in 1965, is majority-owned by Chinese investor Hony Capital, which bought it for £900m in 2014.

Zoe Bowley, managing director at Pizza Express told the BBC: “Our aim throughout these extremely challenging times has been to keep our team members and customers safe and to retain jobs for as long as possible.

“Unfortunately, the recent increase in Covid-19 cases is again causing footfall to decline across the UK.”