The restaurant chain Carluccio’s has been blasted for offering customers ‘unlimited prosecco’ for breakfast.
The eatery, which has around 100 eateries in the UK, is offering customers a ‘bottomless brunch’ on Bank Holiday Monday on May 7.
In an email promo, the restaurant chain, which was founded by the late Antonio Carluccio in 1999 before he sold it for around £90m to the Dubai-based Landmark Group in 2010, is offering customers a £26 ‘breakfast deal’ with unlimited fizz.
The ad states: ‘Bottomless Brunch – £26 for a breakfast of your choice & bottomless prosecco…these two magic words – unlimited prosecco.’
The restaurant chain tweeted about the upcoming promotional deal, which has come under fire from customers
It adds: ‘Brunch is all about taking your time. It’s fresh juice and coffee; freshly-cooked eggs and crispy pancetta. And this Bank Holiday Monday it’s all about unlimited glasses of refreshing Santa Sara prosecco.
‘From 10am-1pm on Monday 7th May…order any breakfast dish and get unlimited fizz for £26.’
It states that the offer is only open to those aged 18 or over and is valid for a ‘whole 90 minutes’, adding: ‘(The) 90 minute window starts when order is placed.
‘We’re big advocates of sensible drinking – please don’t get carried away as we won’t be able to serve you.’
Carluccio’s says it advocates sensible drinking and urged people not to get too drunk as they will be refused service
It states that if you are ‘doing Bank Holiday brunch at home’ you can get 20 per cent off prosecco when you order six or more bottles online.
Joanna Benson, 41, of Pinner, north west London – who often eats at the Italian restaurant chain – said she was ‘shocked’ when she got an email from the eatery.
She said: ‘I know it’s a Bank Holiday and that people start drinking early, but this is encouraging people to start drinking to excess at 10am.
‘If I had four or five glasses of prosecco in the morning I would not be fit for the day.’
Another, Christopher Sommerville, 42, of Glasgow, Scotland, said he received an email from Carluccio’s on Thursday this week (May 3) offering unlimited prosecco on Bank Holiday Monday.
He said: ‘I like a drink as much as the next man, but even I draw the line at drinking at 10am.
‘Alcohol is a big problem in Britain as a whole, and here in Scotland we’ve just had minimum alcohol prices introduced, so this flies in the face of what is happening here in Scotland.
‘If you pay £26 for unlimited prosecco then you’re going to drink as much as you can – there’s no point paying £26 if you just have one or two glasses as it’s not good value for money.
‘The only way to get your money’s worth is to drink a bottle or two as quickly as possible, and that is not something that should be encouraged.’
Antonio Carluccio, who died in 2017 aged 80, was a well-known TV chef and restaurateur and was called the ‘Godfather of Italian Gastronomy’.
NHS guidelines highlight the risk on ‘single drinking sessions’ – also called binge drinking – saying that they can lead to serious accidents and even death.
The NHS states that guidelines on boozing, drawn up by Chief Medical Officers of the UK, show that drinking more than seven glasses of wine or prosecco – around 14 units – is ‘unsafe’.
Antonio Carluccio, who died in 2017, was known as the Godfather of Italian Gastronomy and passed away aged 80
It states that binge drinking dangers included ‘accidents resulting in injury’ – sometime causing death – and ‘losing self control’.
The guidelines state: ‘To keep health risks from drinking alcohol to a low level you are safest not regularly drinking more than 14 units per week.
’14 units is equivalent to a bottle and a half of wine or five pints of export-type lager over the course of a week – this applies to both men and women.
‘If you have one or two heavy drinking sessions, you increase your risks of death from long-term illnesses and from accidents and injuries.’
Giving guidelines on binge drinking, the NHS states: ‘The potential risks of single drinking sessions…can include accidents resulting in injury (causing death in some cases), misjudging risky situations, and losing self-control.
‘You can reduce these risks by limiting the total amount of alcohol you drink on any occasion (and) drinking more slowly, drinking with food, and alternating alcoholic drinks with water.’
According to the charity Alcohol Concern there have already been 2,962 alcohol-related deaths this year – and there were 7,327 alcohol-related deaths in the UK in 2016, the latest figures available.
The Drinkaware Trust – an independent alcohol education charity – states that if you drink more than six glasses of wine a week you are at a higher risk of alcohol affecting your health.