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Jamie Oliver calls collapse of his restaurant business and loss of 1000 jobs ‘very, very painful’

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Jamie Oliver has said collapse of his restaurant business was ‘very, very painful’ (Picture: Rex)

Jamie Oliver has said the collapse of his restaurant business, which saw 1000 people lose their jobs, was ‘very, very painful’.

The celebrity chef appointed KPMG as administrators to handle the insolvency process, which left 22 restaurants closed.

Now, the 44-year-old has said that despite the pain of watching two decades of work crumble, he has no regrets about an approach to the restaurant trade which ’employed loads of people’ but was difficult to sustain.

Oliver has described the experience of his chain’s collapse as: ‘Very painful, very very painful. This is the part of my life that I’ve been building up for 20 years.’

But he said he did everything he could to make his business a success, and the collapse into administration was not unique.

Jamie Oliver rose to fame as the Naked Chef (Picture: ABC)

The star, who rose to fame as the Naked Chef before building a large empire of restaurants, TV shows, and cookbooks, is proud of what he achieved.

He said: ‘Obviously it’s been tough but, you know, no regrets really. I did everything I could.

‘I created something really magic, did amazing things, employed loads of people, bought only through food systems that were really positive.

‘We made it, we whooped everyone’s ass, and then, you know.

‘I just couldn’t make it last sustainably, and there’s a million reasons, that I’ve said a million times, as to what our challenge was, but I lost this time.

‘What happened to me was not unique – it’s been happening to small, medium and some large businesses all over the country.’

Jamie Oliver visits a branch of Jamie’s Italian in Toronto, Canada. (Picture: WireImage)

Oliver added that caring about ethical sources of food and fair treatment of staff was not a lucrative business model.

He said: ‘In business… it’s not a level playing field.’

However, despite this setback he will continue to put pressure on the Government regarding children’s health and nutrition, and the chef will seek to lobby minsters and new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and employ an expert team for the task.

Jamie Oliver returns to TV screens with the Channel 4 show Jamie’s Meat-Free Meals in early September, and he will also release his latest book Veg, published by Penguin Random House, later this month.



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