Jamie’s Italian going bust

Slab

Slab

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As is being reported today;

What is it with these top TV chefs not able to keep a restaurant business going. I never even had a chance to try this one out.
Was it as bad as many reviews say? Overpriced and poor food. On the menu they want 12 quid a skull for spaggy bol, and that's about the cheapest dish. Does seem a bit high for ‘casual dining’ (whatever that is)

Shame for all the staff affected
 
Slab said:
As is being reported today;

What is it with these top TV chefs not able to keep a restaurant business going. I never even had a chance to try this one out.
Was it as bad as many reviews say? Overpriced and poor food. On the menu they want 12 quid a skull for spaggy bol, and that's about the cheapest dish. Does seem a bit high for ‘casual dining’ (whatever that is)

Shame for all the staff affected
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yes great shame for the staff, but from personal experience some of worst food and service in the Glasgow one its little surprise
 
Overpriced fairly rubbish food, so not surprising. I like Jamie's TV stuff but he's not a restauranteur, he was a chef that was spotted by talent agencies very early in his career before he had chance to go through the hard work of running a kitchen and then running a business, like someone like Gordon Ramsey, so it's not a huge surprise that it eventually faltered.
 
Expanded too quickly, in too many expensive locations. The food is not cheap and he needs to fill a lot of covers to make them work. Had he kept the number of restaurants down to some key cities then he may have done okay but the model was flawed imo.

It seems to have gone down with a staggering amount of debt. How on earth did it get to that point?

Dan2501 has it right with his post (y)
 
Never appealed to me. Once you get over a certain number of outlets, you can dress it up as much as you like but it becomes a chain like Nandos, Prezzo, Ask and so many other high street 'restaurants'. Just having a name on the place does not justify higher prices. The market for this type of place is pretty saturated, especially with Italian food and so the chances of failure are pretty high.
 
Not unexpected given the high price of the cost of frankly mediocre food. There seems to be one of his restaurants in many towns now so did he simply get greedy and open more and more to rake the cash in? How much did he really care? Funny how Jamie Oliver Holdings which holds things like his commercial rights (TV, books etc) are held separately and so unscathed in all of this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48352026
 
The margins are too slim for some of the chains to work, unless they really are serving hundreds of customers a day. As mentioned above, he was in very expensive locations, with large areas to fill. I always found his menu to be a bit scattergun, and calling things 'The ultimate' this and that was a trifle patronising. With the rise of Itison/Vouchercloud and the like, catering is a tough industry.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
Not unexpected given the high price of the cost of frankly mediocre food. There seems to be one of his restaurants in many towns now so did he simply get greedy and open more and more to rake the cash in? How much did he really care? Funny how Jamie Oliver Holdings which holds things like his commercial rights (TV, books etc) are held separately and so unscathed in all of this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48352026
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As uncomfortable as it is it is standard practice to break down interests in that way. It protects the various strands of the business so that if one part is struggling it does not bring everything else down, this is a genuine example of why this is done. I'm sure you will find Jamie and his missus are directors of a range of companies, all held separately. It will be the same for Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein and the others in that field, as it is in business generally.

The downside of this is that all of the people owed money are going to see good ol boy Jamie driving in his Range Rover back to his multi million pound house and raking it in still. He wont be affected by the whole business. That doesn't seem quite right but it is how the system works.
 
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I've only ever eaten in Fifteen in Newquay which is actually excellent, I hope that is unaffected because I would go back in a heartbeat.
 
We visited the Brighton one twice, first time was excellent, went back two years later and it was average and not worth the 40 min drive.

I’m glad Gatwick has survived as I like his eggs Benedict pre flight.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
As uncomfortable as it is it is standard practice to break down interests in that way. It protects the various strands of the business so that if one part is struggling it does not bring everything else down, this is a genuine example of why this is done. I'm sure you will find Jamie and his missus are directors of a range of companies, all held separately. It will be the same for Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein and the others in that field, as it is in business generally.

The downside of this is that all of the people owed money are going to see good ol boy Jamie driving in his Range Rover back to his multi million pound house and raking it in still. He wont be affected by the whole business. That doesn't seem quite right but it is how the system works.
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Very true. And in fairness, he would have lost all he put into that particular part of the business. He stuck £13 million in last year I believe. Provided there hasn't been actual fraud, I am fairly comfortable with people having businesses set up this way.
 
Unlike others here I've only ever had good meals at his places..

Admittedly only been to 2 of them, one at Covent Garden and the other at Angel.

Perhaps he spread himself to widely to get it right.
 
Pasta in essence is flour and eggs. Not the most expensive ingredients in the world. £12 for a spag Bol. People are not stupid. Went into Bella Italia yesterday before the parade. £12 for the lasagne, £6.99 for the lunch lasagne. Exactly the same. Why not keep it at £6.99 all day. £4.95 for sweet potato fries.

If you want an overpriced expensive Rammel night out try Miller and Carter steak house.
 
Tashyboy said:
Pasta in essence is flour and eggs. Not the most expensive ingredients in the world. £12 for a spag Bol. People are not stupid. Went into Bella Italia yesterday before the parade. £12 for the lasagne, £6.99 for the lunch lasagne. Exactly the same. Why not keep it at £6.99 all day. £4.95 for sweet potato fries.

If you want an overpriced expensive Rammel night out try Miller and Carter steak house.
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+1 for that. Half a lettuce, what's that all about?
 
Perhaps at least some of the public are becoming slightly more discerning.

These so called Italian restaurants have, for some time now, been serving poor food at mid-range prices.

It's not even Italian food. What the hell is spaghetti Bolognese?

About as authentic as Chicken Tikka Masala!
 
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