JAMIE OFF THE BOIL
JAMIE Oliver’s culinary empire, which dominated some of London’s most exclusive addresses, has been reduced to airport food.
The celebrity chef, antiobesity campaigner, advocate for homeless people, cook book creator and father-of-five has officially bitten off more than he can chew.
Administrators KPMG were appointed to his restaurant chain this week, and the outlets in London’s Covent Garden, Piccadilly, and London Bridge among 22 closed immediately.
Only three outlets at London’s Gatwick Airport remain as his empire became a kitchen nightmare not even Gordon Ramsay could save.
Oliver has personally lost as much as $25 million but he’s still not worrying when a large electricity bill drops in the mail, he’s worth more than $200 million from his television career and property investments.
But Oliver was distraught about the collapse this week.
“I’m devastated that our much-loved UK restaurants have gone into administration,” he said.
“I am deeply saddened by this outcome and would like to thank all of the people who have put their hearts and souls into this business over the years.”
But some of the 1300 staff whose jobs were at risk were angry they were told via email, particularly after Oliver had splashed out $12 million for a Tudor mansion in Essex in January.
News Corp went to Gatwick Airport, where Oliver’s Jamie’s Italian still operate to see if people were still keen on the British chef’s version of the Mediterranean classics.
Jasmine London, 24, works airside at Gatwick where the restaurants are located but had never eaten there, or any other Oliver restaurant.
“No, never. I’ve not even been interested. I’d rather go to other Italian restaurants. Jamie’s don’t seem authentic,” she said.
Ms London said many in “her generation” saw Oliver as the man who stole chips from their school dinners, rather than the popular celebrity chef.
But June Lahm, 72, of Sydney, who was while waiting for a flight to Venice, said she felt sorry for Oliver, and worried about his staff and suppliers.
“I’ve eaten in the Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden in London and the Brisbane one,” she said.
“I had a dish in Covent Garden with purple potatoes, it was so pretty but it was delicious as well.”
Oliver, 43, has been a household name since 1999 when his first cooking show, The Naked Chef, hit screens.
The cook books followed the television show.
Oliver has sold more than 10 million cook books, and at one point was only behind Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling on the list of highest value sales of British authors.
He became the face of Sainsbury’s, a mid- to upperrange supermarket in Britain, in 2000 on a reported fee of more than $2 million per year. Oliver has now swapped supermarkets and is fronting ads for Tesco.
The irrepressible Oliver opened his Fifteen Foundation in 2002 -–a restaurant staffed by disadvantaged people to give them a chance to learn the trade.
But in 2003, Oliver was starting to grind the gears of some when he was voted into a poll of 100 worst Britons – his crime was over exposure.
The chef then ruffled feathers again with his Jamie’s School Dinners in 2005.
The four-episode series took aim at the nutrition and quality of school canteens.
Unlike Australia, where children by-and-large bring their own lunch to eat in the playground, British children are supplied with a lunch every school day.
Such was the response to the show, the menus are now restricted to fried food just twice a week.
Oliver branched out to Australia in 2006 when he opened a Fifteen restaurant in Melbourne, with a TV series to boot.
The restaurant, run in partnership with Melbourne celebrity chef Tobie Puttock, struggled through a mix of distance and some employee sabotage. Paddock closed the restaurant on New Year’s Eve in 2010, reopening the next day under a new name at the same location.
Jamie’s Italian had been struggling in Australia as far back as 2016.
He ploughed in his own cash in March, 2017 to try to save them but was rescued by the Hallmark Group in 2018 after more red ink forced him to sell.
At the same time, in the UK he was begging landlords for rent reductions.
Australian Jamie fans can still eat at his restaurants in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. A spokeswoman from the Hallmark Group said they would continue to operate as normal.
But the question being asked this week is did Oliver create a food Frankenstein?
When your name is everywhere, your cook books are selling out and everybody knows your name, it was understandable you would think more success would come. But Oliver has become like other celebrity chefs who have found that the hospitality industry is unforgiving.
Despite these problems, however, given his rapid climb to success – The Naked Chef premiered just 20 years ago – it seems certain Oliver’s souffle will rise again.