Upper Crust and Ritazza owner SSP has announced plans to shed up to around 5,000 jobs as a result of plunging passengers numbers at transport hubs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The group, which also owns a number of brands while running travel sites for other big names, warned it expects to open only around a fifth of its sites in the 海角视频 by the autumn as travel is set to remain at very low levels amid the Covid-19 crisis.
It has launched a consultation on a restructure to 鈥渟implify and reshape鈥 the business in the face of the pandemic, which it said could lead to more than half of its 9,000-strong peak season workforce being axed.
The group said head office and 海角视频 staff would be affected by the cuts.
Chief executive Simon Smith said: 鈥淚n the 海角视频 the pace of the recovery continues to be slow.
鈥淚n response to this, we are now taking further action to protect the business and create the right base from which to rebuild our operations.
鈥淩egrettably, we are starting a collective consultation which will affect our 海角视频 colleagues.
鈥淭hese are extremely difficult decisions, and our main priority will be to conduct the process carefully and fairly.鈥
SSP has around 570 sites across 130 airport and railway stations in the 海角视频 and Ireland, but also has operations in 35 countries worldwide.
It runs travel sites for chains such as Burger King, M&S Simply Food and Starbucks, while it also has its own brands including Millie鈥檚 and Upper Crust.
The firm has so far not launched any 鈥渕aterial鈥 restructuring in its other global operations, as it believes there will be a faster bounce back outside the 海角视频.
SSP has seen sales almost entirely wiped out in April and May, down around 95% and, despite a slight recovery in June, revenues were still around 90% lower last month.
It recently warned over operating losses of up to 拢250 million for the second half of its financial year.
The firm said despite some tentative signs of a recovery in the travel sector, rail passenger numbers still remain around 85% lower than a year earlier and the air sector has stayed largely closed until recently.
It believes that short-haul air travel may see a limited pick-up in July thanks to so-called air bridges between countries over the summer holiday season, but it does not expect a meaningful pick-up in airport and train passenger numbers.
Mr Smith said: 鈥淭he objective of the action that we are proposing today is to ensure that we manage through this pandemic, rebuild our business as demand recovers and, in time, deliver long term sustainable growth for the benefit of all our stakeholders.鈥
He added the group will keep open the possibility of opening more sites if it sees sales improve over the summer.
Mick Lynch, assistant general secretary at rail union RMT, said: "The news that Upper Crust, major caterers on Britain's railway stations, have announced savage job cuts shows that support services across the rail industry are facing a real crisis in the months ahead which will hammer both the workforce and those who rely on their facilities if the Government doesn't intervene as the lockdown eases.
"Our railway stations are in danger of ending up as ghost towns as we emerge from the pandemic.
"Every member of the rail workforce from caterers to cleaners and those who operate trains and track is important to our future success and RMT will be demanding of the Government that no one is left behind."
