Sizzler stores to close within weeks

Hundreds of jobs will be lost with Sizzler and its famous cheesy bread set to be no more before the end of the year.

Nine remaining Sizzler restaurants will close and 600 jobs lost within weeks after Collins Foods pulled the pin on its struggling buffet chain.

Collins Foods, the parent company of Sizzler Australia, has closed 19 restaurants since 2015 and on Friday morning announced the remaining nine would close by November 15.

Five Queensland restaurants – Mermaid Beach, Loganholme, Toowoomba, Maroochydore and Caboolture – will close.

Three stores in Western Australia and one in New South Wales will also close.

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Collins Foods said of the three brands it operates, including KFC and Taco Bell, Sizzler had been the “hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

“Sizzler revenues and earnings have been slow to recover from peak COVID-19 impacts, and the overall Sizzler business has continued to operate at a loss since the onset of the crisis,” the company said in a statement.

About 600 employees have been offered redundancy packages.

Collins said some staff would be redeployed to its KFC and Taco Bell network, which continues to grow.

Sizzler launched its first restaurant in 1958 in California as a “self service budget steakhouse”, offering two types of steak, a small salad offer and bread rolls.

The US brand made its Australian debut in 1984 and expanded across the country.

In recent years, however, the company has closed several stores as profits tumbled.

Collins Foods’ CEO Drew O’Malley said it was a “difficult decision” to close the chain.

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

“In FY20, Sizzler Australia revenues accounted for less than 3 per cent of Collins Foods’ total revenue.”