Chef thanks customers and reveals refresh for restaurant

JAMIE Oliver has revealed that his Cardiff restaurant – which was threatened with closure in January – will get a makeover in the new year.

The news comes as the renowned chef visited the city with his friend and mentor Gennaro Contaldo to promote his new book and cookery show, Jamie Cooks Italy.

Earlier this year there were fears that the Italian restaurant, on The Hayes, would close as a third of the chain’s UK venues were shut in a restructuring measure by business.

But Cardiff was not one of the 12 affected and Oliver told the Echo that the high street was having to work to pull people back in thanks to the rise of online ordering sites such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

He said: “The company voluntary agreement process which has become very commonplace across businesses, not just restaurants, we’re seeing how the Uberisation of food is affecting us.

“We’re seeing businesses of all types saying ‘is it a fair playing field?’ and it’s not the case. I was early to go and I believe we’ve done very well.

“We’ve only closed 12 restaurants, many of our competitors have closed 40, 50, 60... we’re seeing people falling away from the high street and we’re seeing rates and rent being unsustainable.

“I don’t think Cardiff was ever an option, I think the landlord here has a sober and honest view, that’s not always the case.

“And we’re looking at relaunching here next year and how we do that and what the Cardiff gang are going to get. We need to get people off the sofa and into the town centres.”

And although Oliver is positive about Cardiff’s culinary scene, he adds that it’s vital to keep town centres alive.

“It’s brilliant to have a restaurant in Wales. There seems to be some brilliant action happening in terms of independents, pop-ups farmers markets, but the area that we are here, is the centre of town next to John Lewis and we are like ‘OK, how do we get people into the town centre’ – it’s important to have a town centre.”

Revamping the restaurant is a priority to keep those customers coming through the door and Oliver is well aware that Jamie’s Italian cannot have a thoroughly systematic style across the UK.

“It should only ever be about what Cardiff needs,” he added. “It’s not the same as six or seven years ago, Cardiff has been evolving.

“You can see from the size and the pricing, it’s not a posh restaurant; we want to over deliver with affordable, mid-market price and it’s about democratising mid-market food.

“And whether that’s the menu, the fit-out, the experience, the price, you have to make sure they are all pointing in the right direction.

“And it’s not about the brand, it’s about the town. I’ve come from Birmingham, which is doing really well for us, as so is Cardiff by the way, so thanks to all our Welsh customers.

“But at the same time they need totally different things when we refresh them at the end of the year, and here at the beginning of next year.”