Supermarket group Jumbo is closing 23 of its 80 La Place restaurant branches and will aim to find jobs for the 480 affected staff at other La Place branches or at the company’s supermarkets.

A spokesman for the company told the Financieele Dagblad that La Place has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis and the 23 branches, nine of which are situated beside motorways, are no longer viable.

‘We have been working hard in the last couple of months on the La Place formula and we will be launching a new generation of La Place restaurants in the second half of this year where the focus will be on speed and prepacked food,’ the spokesman said.

Works council chair Cindy Colin told broadcaster NOS Jumbo would be ‘relocating staff both on temporary and fixed contracts.’

La Place CFO Ton van Veen told the Telegraaf ‘no redundancies’ would be needed. La Place had been doing well but the coronavirus crisis had pushed it into the red, with monthly losses of up to €7 million, he said.

Over half of the La Place restaurants are still closed until September, with 85% of staff redeployed in the booming supermarkets.

Jumbo group bought the La Place chain in 2016, after the demise of former owner V&D.