Tayside and Fife jobs fears as Frankie & Benny’s restaurants to close

The Restaurant Group, which runs Frankie & Benny's, will close 35 restaurants across the UK.

By Gavin Harper

March 8 2023, 5:01pm

Frankie & Benny's at Fife Leisure Park in Dunfermline. Image: Google Maps.

Tayside and Fife jobs could be at risk after the firm behind Frankie and Benny’s announced it will close restaurants this year.

The Restaurant Group (TRG), which owns the two chains, said it will close around 35 of its loss-making dining locations.

The group said the closures would help it shore up cash after reporting widening losses over 2022.

Frankie & Benny’s has restaurants in Dundee’s Overgate and at Fife Leisure Park in Dunfermline.

Andy Hornby, TRG chief executive, said the move forms part of a “robust plan” to improve the group’s margins over the next three years.

He said: “Every year a number of leases come up for potential renewal, so the vast majority is where we are going to selectively – and we haven’t fully decided yet.

“We are going to constantly review the way the sites are trading – exit a number of those, rather than renew the lease for another five or 10 years.

“We will manage that on a localised basis, and the teams will be the first people to know.

“But we are not closing any sites that we think have got long-term profitable futures.”

Latest cuts from The Restaurant Group

Mr Hornby said the business would try to offer deployments to staff across the affected sites wherever possible.

He did not specify how many jobs would be impacted.

He added: “A significant number of these potential sites are in areas where we have other brands, so the job impact should be significantly less than you might think from the number of sites that we will not be renewing.”

The group, which has about 18,000 staff across the UK, has already cut a raft of loss-making restaurants over the period.

It closed its Perth and Kirkcaldy branches of Frankie & Benny’s during the pandemic.

Frankie & Benny’s in Perth closed during the pandemic. It is now a Tim Horton’s.

A spokesperson for TRG said: “We are unable to confirm which locations will close.

“This remains subject to an ongoing review, particularly as leases come up for renewal over the next two years.”

Plans to expand Wagamama restaurants

However, TRG plans to expand the pan-Asian chain Wagamama, which is unaffected by the closures.

Up to three of the closing sites will be converted to Wagamama over the next two years. The rest will be sold or the leases will be exited or left to expire.

TRG wants to open five to six new Wagamama restaurants a year for the next three years.