KITCHEN NIGHTMARE
As his restaurants go bust, what REALLY sparked Jamie’s
Jamie Oliver pulled the plug on his restaurant empire yesterday, leaving 1,000 people out of work and suppliers owed millions of pounds. The ovens were turned off and the doors locked at 22 eateries, including almost all of the Jamie’s italian chain.
The multi-millionaire TV chef has pledged to ensure workers will be paid what they are owed.
But the firm’s collapse left many staff tearful and angry – and having to hunt for jobs at a time when the restaurant sector is in crisis.
analysis of why it failed is likely to focus on the role of Oliver’s brother-in-law, Paul Hunt, who has been described as ‘arrogant’ and ‘incompetent’. mr Hunt, husband of the chef’s sister, anna-marie, was hired to run Jamie Oliver Ltd in 2014, and then became a director, despite reports of bullying and being banned as a City trader in 1999 for insider trading.
But the company has rejected the claims against mr Hunt. Last year, Oliver said mr Hunt had steered the business through a difficult period, ‘helping to create a healthy and creative place to work’.
Jamie’s italian has been struggling for years and Oliver is said to have used £12.7million of his own money to keep it afloat.
The chef, whose personal fortune is thought to be £150million, has blamed Brexit and tough trading for the chain’s difficulties. But critics said the real reason was its high prices for average food and service.
a worker at Jamie’s italian in King Street, manchester, said staff only found they had lost their jobs when accountants from the insolis vency firm KPmG turned up. He added: ‘They handed us a notice to say that the business has ceased trading as of now.
‘We didn’t know. There were about 15 of us. it’s a shock.’
Staff at Jamie’s italian in Birmingham claim they were sacked by email just 30 minutes before the firm’s collapse was announced.
manager Josh Singh, 24, said: ‘i am gutted. We received an email from KPmG basically saying, “i’m afraid you’re sacked, don’t bother coming into work”.’
another worker, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘email is a pretty cold way to sack your staff.
‘i’m really angry because Jamie won’t be the one looking for a job and struggling to pay his bills.
‘He and his management got greedy. Why pay £100-plus for a meal when you feel under pressure to eat it quickly? You might as well go to mcDonalds.’
Yesterday, Channel 4 star Oliver, who recently moved his family into a £6million 16th century mansion in essex, said he was ‘devastated’.
The decision to put the business into administration yesterday triggered the immediate closure of 20 branches of Jamie’s italian, plus the Barbecoa steak house in the City of London and a Fifteen outlet at Shoreditch in east London.
The process will not affect the Fifteen restaurant in Cornwall, which a social enterprise run by the Cornwall Food Foundation to help disadvantaged young adults.
But matthew Thomson, from the foundation, said: ‘it’s a desperately sad day. There are tears here.’
Customers took to social media following the announcement that the restaurants had closed. One wrote: ‘No surprise. Been to your restaurants a few times, average food and poor service.’
But another said: ‘Dunno why everyone is so quick to bash JO, always fights the good fight.’
administrators at KPmG, which has taken over the running of the firm, said Oliver had tried unsuccessfully to sell it as a going concern for months. Will Wright, of KPmG, said: ‘The trading environment across the casual dining sector is as tough as i’ve ever seen.’
‘A pretty cold way to sack your staff’