Tony Macaroni closes the restaurant that started the chain
The Scottish Italian brand's debut standalone site in East Kilbride has shut for good, months after its parent company entered administration.
Tony Macaroni has confirmed the permanent closure of its debut standalone restaurant, the East Kilbride site that launched the Scottish Italian chain in 2007.
The St James Court restaurant shut unexpectedly earlier this year. The group has now confirmed the closure is permanent, though it has not given a reason. Posting on Instagram, Tony Macaroni reminded customers that its Tony Macaroni Express site at The Hub, also in East Kilbride, remains open and is now serving the full menu and offers from the closed restaurant.
The brand says it still operates 13 sites across Scotland, which it describes as making it one of the country's largest branded restaurant businesses.
Thirteen branches remain open, but the restaurant that started the chain is gone for good.
A difficult year for the parent company
The closure follows a troubled period for Tony Macaroni's parent, Viva Italia Ltd. Companies House records show the business faced a winding-up petition and the appointment of a provisional liquidator; that appointment was terminated on 7 August, before the company entered administration on 21 August. Scottish hospitality has seen several branded chains pass through administration this year, including Thai Express UK, bought out of administration by Giggling Squid, and brewer-bar group BrewDog, whose administration left creditors unpaid, according to a recent report.
A menu built for volume
Tony Macaroni's casual dining menu centres on Italian staples such as spaghetti carbonara, lasagne and risotto, alongside burgers, ribs and steaks, plus pizzas topped with 'nduja, Italian sausage and buffalo mozzarella. Its Tony Macaroni 2.0 menu, available at the Glasgow West End site, pushes the format further with a spaghetti carbonara burger: a beef patty topped with American cheese, creamy carbonara and crispy pancetta.
For now, the group is steering trade toward its remaining East Kilbride site rather than announcing a successor to St James Court, leaving the original restaurant's future, and any plans to reopen it, unaddressed. The closure adds Tony Macaroni to a run of branded Scottish casual-dining names that have shed sites or changed hands this year, even as the chain insists its wider estate is trading normally.
