Frankie & Benny's (now trading as Frankie's) is a chain of

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

-themed restaurants in the

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run by

The Restaurant Group The Restaurant Group plc is a British chain of restaurants and public houses. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Matthew Brown from Chatteris in 1987 as City Centre Restaurants plc with the objective of ...

. , it had 90 outlets nationwide.

History

Frankie and Benny's restaurant, Greenbridge Retail Park, Swindon - geograph

In 1924, at the age of 10, Frankie Giuliani left

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with his parents and moved to

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. Within a year of moving, the family had opened a restaurant, everybody helping with the building and the cooking in equal measure. Frankie went to the nearby high school and became lifelong friends with Benny, already a third-generation American. The restaurant was taken over by Frankie and Benny in 1953. It combines popular

American food American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States. It has been significantly influenced by Europeans, indigenous Native Americans, Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and many other cultures an ...

with traditional Italian dishes. In January 2017, The Restaurant Group attempted to reinvent the brand. In 2019, another 18 branches were closed and, in February 2020, The Restaurant Group announced that further closures were planned to take place by the end of 2021. In 2019, it was reported that virtual restaurant brands Birdbox and Stacks were operating on delivery services

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and

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from Frankie & Benny's restaurants. Seven new vegan dishes were added to the menu in January 2020. On 3 June 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

, The Restaurant Group told employees a "large number" of its Frankie & Benny's outlets would not reopen after quarantine; 120 restaurants were permanently closed. In October 2021, the chain cut its name in half by renaming itself "Frankie's". The chain hoped that by reinventing itself and changing its menu again, it could attract more customers and open new locations.

Controversy

In October 2012, a two-year-old was served whisky instead of lime and water. The chain apologised, saying that they would prevent anything similar happening again, but any preventative measures seemed to have failed when, in December 2017, an alcoholic drink was served to a four-year-old girl in the Warrington branch. A spokesman for the chain apologised for the incident which was described as "genuine human error". In May 2014, a Frankie & Benny's customer complained after he was served a crab dish containing

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. The item was eventually removed from the menu. In November 2015, the chain was given the lowest rating (red) in an assessment of the sustainability of its seafood products.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankie and Benny's Italian restaurants in the United Kingdom Restaurants established in 1995 Restaurant groups in the United Kingdom