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COVID the last straw as Collins shuts doors of its remaining Sizzler stores

The last nine Sizzler restaurants in Australia will close and its owner, Brisbane-based Collins Food Group, has said it will either sack 600 workers or find them new jobs in its other businesses.

Oct 02, 2020, updated Oct 02, 2020
Sizzler will close the last nine stores in Australia

Sizzler will close the last nine stores in Australia

Collins said the financial performance of the Sizzler chain had been under constant review since 2015. At the time Collins said the restaurants were no longer part of its core business.

Collins had bought the business in 1984 when it bought Link Foods which operated Bonanza stores, which it converted into Sizzler. The first was at Annerley in Brisbane.

The chain had been cash flow positive, but 19 stores have closed since 2015. The nine remaining restaurants that will close are Mermaid Beach, Loganholme, Toowoomba, Caboolture, and Maroochydore. There are also three in WA and one in Campbelltown, NSW.

“Of the three restaurant brands that Collins Foods Group operates, Sizzler has been the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Collins Foods chief executive Drew O’Malley said.

The 600 affected staff have been offered redundancies and Collins said it was trying to redeploy as many as possible to its KFC and Taco Bell stores.

It will continue to licence the Sizzler brand in Asia.

“The ongoing impact COVID-19 on revenues has meant that, unfortunately, these restaurants have not established a clear path to profitability in the foreseeable future,” O’Malley said.

“In 2020, Sizzler Australia revenues accounted for less than 3 per cent of Collins Foods’ total revenue.

“While Sizzler Australia’s closure will allow us to minimise current-year and future losses there will be some one-off closure costs that will be reflected in the upcoming half-year results.

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“Closing restaurants is not something we do often and not a decision we take lightly, especially for a brand as beloved as Sizzler, which has been an important part of the Collins Foods’ history.”

Sizzler stores remain in the US, Japan, Thailand and China.

 

 

 

 

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