1,000 redundancies after collapse of Jamie Oliver chain

22 sites of Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain have closed resulting in 1,000 redundancies after the firm fell into administration and failed to attract investment to continue trading.

The chain, which went into administration yesterday, was unable to secure funding to keep sites open, and has now closed all but three of its restaurants.

The administration includes the 20 chains of Jamie’s Italian as well as the chef’s Barbecoa and Fifteen London.

According to administrators KPMG, three sites in London’s Gatwick airport will continue to trade “in the short term”.

Set to close are the seven Jamie’s Italian restaurants in London, as well as sites in Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford and York.

Will Wright, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “The directors at Jamie Oliver restaurant group have worked tirelessly to stabilise the business against a backdrop of rising costs and brittle consumer confidence.

“However, after a sales process which sought to bring new investment into the business proved unsuccessful, the team took the incredibly difficult decision to appoint administrators.”

Chef Jamie Oliver commented: “I am deeply saddened by this outcome and would like to thank all of the staff and our suppliers who have put their hearts and souls into this business for over a decade.

He added: “I appreciate how difficult this is for everyone affected.”