Hundreds of Prezzo workers are at risk of redundancy as the Italian restaurant chain is to shut 46 loss-making restaurants due to soaring energy and food costs.

Cuts, which are part of a broader strategic review, will affect sites where “the post-Covid recovery has proved harder than we had hoped.”

The restaurant group says it has been impacted by its utility bills more than doubling and a 40 per cent increase in the cost of spaghetti, 28 per cent rise for pizza sauce and 15 per cent increase in the cost of its dough balls.