Creditors of the restaurant group Prezzo will today vote on the company’s Company Voluntary Arrangement plans.
An announcement is expected this afternoon from the group, which is proposing to close 94 restaurants – including all its subsidiary brands – leaving 208 operating.
The company, which is backed by TPG Capital, put forward a new business plan as part of the CVA with four core pillars dedicated to brand, food, people and estate.
It is already trialling a new look and feel in 12 restaurants across different categories of the portfolio and is also working on a “step-change” of the menu.
Prezzo owes banks and suppliers almost £220m, the CVA document reveals. It show that the company owes secured creditors including Barclays Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland £154m, while scores of unsecured creditors are owed a total of £65.7m.
Earlier this month, chief executive Jon Hendry-Pickup told MCA that he still saw a bright future for the core Prezzo brand beyond the CVA.
He said: “ “People see the letters CVA and they have an impression of what that means - that a business has been forced into that situation. What we are doing is proactively managing the fact that the market has changed and we need to get this business in the right shape to suit that. You can stick your head in the sand or you can act to adapt to conditions. We are the ones accelerating the process, rather than being forced to accept it.
“The core of this business is in really decent shape but there are certain sites, including those in the subsidiary brands, that are just not working out. I would love to take the time necessary to get those sites back to where they need to be, but the market isn’t giving me that time.”
