Jamie’s food empire back in profit after shutting down cooking schools

JAMIE Oliver’s business empire is back in health after strong trading at its restaurant chain and TV production division.

Its media arm, which makes a host of popular shows, including Jamie’s Super Food and Cheryl: Access All Areas, is back into the black with a £1m profit.

This is better than the £9.8m loss posted last year as new chief executive Paul Hunt, who is Oliver’s brother-in-law, launched a strategic review of the business and decided to close the Recipease cookery schools.

Profits for the group rose £10.2m for 2015 up from £200,000, on sales of £31.9m down from £39.7m.

During the year more than 1.7m Jamie Oliver books were sold and a record number of diners ate in one of Oliver’s 45 UK restaurants. There are also 22 eateries abroad.

New international sites opened in Australia, South East Asia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Indonesia, Netherlands, Canada and India.