Bad news for Jamie Oliver’s Aussie fans
Jamie Oliver’s Australian restaurant group has gone into voluntary administration forcing the immediate closure of the Canberra-based restaurant.
Two years ago, the celebrity chef bought back the Jamie’s Italian chain from failed hospitality group the Keystone Group in March 2017.
The Canberra Times revealed that staff at the Canberra restaurant were given no warning of the sudden closure of the eatery.
Jamie Oliver’s other Italian restaurants in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide will be taken over by Brisbane-based Hallmark Group.
Yesterday, chief operating officer of the Australian Jamie’s Italian chain, Ben Shaughnessy, called in the voluntary administrators after consecutive meetings with Hallmark to discuss the sale and creditor HSBC.
On Monday evening, the PR business representing Jamie’s Italian in Australia issued a statement, announcing “a new operating partner for its Australian business”.
A spokesperson for the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group Australia said, “Australia has and continues to be one of our best performing international markets and, after a short period of in-house management we are pleased to be partnering with Hallmark.
"The team brings a huge amount of experience and passion for our brand, from collaborating with the key suppliers to our food philosophy, and we look forward to working with them as they develop the Jamie’s Italian restaurant offering across Australia."
On social media the Canberra restaurant said, “This is pretty sad news for the staff but Jamie's Italian has closed suddenly this morning and it looks like it won't be reopening anytime soon.”
“The remaining restaurants in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Parramatta and Adelaide are to remain open.
The announcement follows a recent scandal where a chef at one of the Italian restaurants was caught using packet gnocchi – despite claims the restaurant makes produce fresh daily.
An observant customer dining at the restaurant on Pitt Street, Sydney, took a photo of a chef preparing to use a packet of ready-made gnocchi.
On the menus of the popular restaurants, it says that they "make fresh pasta, right here every day”.
It has been revealed that Jamie Oliver’s international restaurant chains had a pre-tax loss of $17.5 million. The UK business entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement believing it can trade out of its trouble.
On Friday, his chain announced that twelve of his restaurants will close as part of a company restructure.
The firm said, “We are pleased to have received the overwhelming support from our creditors for our proposal to reshape Jamie's Italian restaurants.”
“We have a strong brand and are focused on continuing to deliver the levels of service, taste and the experience our loyal customers deserve.”
The UK chef has 25 restaurants in the UK and 28 overseas. There are six Jamie’s Italian restaurants across Australia.