The Italian casual dining chain is in talks with administrator FRP Advisory, which said it would “consider all options” for the company’s future.
It could mark the second major restaurant casualty of the coronavirus outbreak, after The Restaurant Group last week filed a notice of its intention to appoint administrators to Chiquito, while RSM was appointed administrator to Food & Fuel.
Burger chain Byron has also hired advisers to consider its options.
Carluccio’s CEO Mark Jones has been vocal about the company’s problems since the crisis, telling its 2,000 staff how a rapid decline in sales and closure of its restaurants had exhausted cash resources, and left it struggling to make the payroll payment.
The crisis talks come despite a reported injection of cash from Carluccios’ owner, the Dubai-based Jagtiani Foundation.
Ahead of the government’s jobs retention scheme, which pledged to pay 80% of workers’ salaries, Jones said the brand was “days away from large-scale closures” without state aid.
A spokesperson for the administrator said: “FRP is working with the directors of Carluccio’s to consider all options for the company in the current climate."
The restaurant chain was founded over 20 years ago by celebrity chef Antonio Carluccio, who died aged 80 in 2017.