Some 225 roles are set to be impacted by the closures.
Fulham Shore CEO Marcel Khan told Restaurant’s sister title MCA that it will launch a CVA process for Franco Manca, partly blaming ‘disproportionately high’ UK taxes and a lack of business rates relief for restaurants.
Khan says that in the two years since taking the reins of Fulham Shore the group has been making strong progress against several key performance indicators.
This includes stronger operational discipline and better shift execution with significant labour savings delivered, driven by productivity gains rather than service dilution.
Guest experience has also improved with NPS up 28 points (33%) over the period and Google ratings now at 4.79, up 10% on compared to two years ago.
In a statement, Khan says: “Over the last two years under our current management, we have been making strong progress against several key performance indicators, with productivity, customer satisfaction, happiness ratings, loyalty and frequency improving significantly.
“However, even restaurant businesses that are doing all the right things from a customer and operational perspective are not immune to widely publicised pressures impacting the hospitality industry.
“This includes significant increases in NI and NLW in recent history, as well as a lack of business rates relief for the restaurant sector and disproportionately high VAT in the UK compared with Europe.
“As a result of these external cost pressures, we have to make sure that we are putting our business on a sustainable footing for long-term growth and development.
“This is why we have taken the difficult decision to undertake a CVA for Franco Manca, which will see a minority proportion of our restaurants closing where they are no longer sustainable in this cost environment.
”We are deeply saddened by the closures of a minority proportion of our restaurants and will support our affected team members throughout this process in every way that we can.”
Sluggish restaurant market
The news comes after Fulham Shore owner Toridoll Holdings had warned The Real Greek and Franco Manca operator could close ‘a substantial number of underperforming sites’ as it struggles with a ‘sluggish restaurant market’.
Filings published by the Japanese food conglomerate to the Tokyo Stock Exchange stated that the group is ‘examining a wide range of restructuring options in order to strengthen the business amid ongoing soft market conditions’.
Toridoll’s results covering April to December 2025 (Q1 to Q3 of FY26) showed Fulham Shore’s revenue as being down 5.4% year-on-year. Under business performance, both sales and profit for the group were marked as ‘bad’.
The same month, Fulham Shore appointed advisors from Alvarez & Marsal to review its strategic options.
There is currently no confirmation on plans for the 28-strong The Real Greek business, although Sky News reported last month Fulham Shore is contemplating a formal restructuring of group.