Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s has gone into administration, blaming “challenging trading conditions” exacerbated by the coronavirus.
Administrator FRP is “urgently looking at options” for the future of the firm.
These include mothballing the business using government support, as well as trying to sell all or parts of it.
Most of the company’s 2,000 employees will be paid through the government’s job retention scheme while these options are explored.
This allows for staff to be paid up to 80% of their salary.
The restaurant chain’s collapse came minutes after rent-to-own firm BrightHouse – the biggest rent-to-own operator in the UK – also collapsed.
Collectively, the two firms employ 4,500 people.