Tue 21st May 2019 - All Jamie Oliver restaurants except Gatwick sites shut following administration, Oliver unable to secure investment despite putting in £4m All Jamie Oliver restaurants except Gatwick sites shut following administration, Oliver unable to secure investment despite putting in £4m: All of Jamie Oliver’s 25 UK restaurants have closed except for three sites at Gatwick airport following the appointment of administrators, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs. KPMG also revealed it was appointed after the restaurant group failed to secure additional investment in the business despite Oliver putting in £4m himself since the beginning of the year. KPMG stated: “Will Wright and Mark Orton, from KPMG’s restructuring practice, have been appointed joint administrators to Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group and its subsidiaries Jamie’s Italian, Jamie’s Italian Holdings, One New Change and Fifteen Restaurant. The Group employs about 1,300 staff at 25 restaurants across the UK, including 22 under the Jamie’s Italian brand, in addition to Jamie Oliver’s Diner at Gatwick airport, Barbecoa and Fifteen London. The group recently undertook a process to secure additional investment in the business and, since the beginning of this year, Jamie Oliver has made additional funds of £4m available to support fund-raising. However, with no suitable investment forthcoming and in light of the very difficult current trading environment, the directors resolved to appoint administrators. Following their appointment, all but three of the group’s 25 eateries have closed. Both Jamie’s Italian restaurants and Jamie Oliver’s Diner at Gatwick airport will continue to trade in the short term while the joint administrators explore options for the sites. Regrettably, these closures will result in about 1,000 redundancies. Jamie Oliver Holdings has made arrangements to ensure all restaurant staff salaries will be paid up to the date of the administrators’ appointment. The international restaurants trading as Jamie’s Italian, Jamie’s Pizzeria and Jamie’s Deli will continue to trade as normal and are not affected by the administration of the UK restaurant business.” Wright added: “The current trading environment for companies across the casual dining sector is as tough as I’ve seen. 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 that sought to bring new investment into the business proved unsuccessful, the team took the incredibly difficult decision to appoint administrators. Unfortunately, with insufficient funds available to be able to trade the business in administration, all but the Gatwick airport restaurants have now closed. Our priority in the coming hours and days is to work with those employees who have been made redundant, providing any support and assistance they need.” The Jamie’s Italian restaurants that have closed are in Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, York and seven in London – Covent Garden, Islington, London Bridge, Piccadilly, Victoria, White City and Westfield Stratford. Barbecoa at One New Change in London and Fifteen London have also closed.