Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been forced to give up his Australian restaurants after the group was placed in the hands of voluntary administrators.
Five of the restaurants trading as Jamie’s Italian – in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Parramatta – have been sold to the Brisbane-based restaurant group Hallmark in a last-minute rescue deal.
A sixth in Canberra has closed immediately.
The troubles in Australia come just weeks after the depth of the Naked Chef’s global financial woes emerged.
A note on the door of the Canberra restaurant announced its demise:
Dear Canberra,
It is with great sadness that Jamie’s Italian Canberra has had to close its doors indefinitely.
We thank you for all of your support over the last 4.5 years.
From all the staff at Jamie’s Canberra we bid you a fond farewell.
Big Love Mr O xxx
The Naked Chef had stepped in to rescue the six Australian restaurants bearing his name in November 2016 after the Australian hospitality company Keystone group, which operated the franchise, went into administration.
Now Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group Australia, which is wholly owned by the UK company Jamie’s Italian Ltd, has suffered the same fate.
There were no details about the debts owed by the company, but documents lodged with the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, revealed Oliver’s Australian subsidiary had been in discussion with advisers over voluntary administration since late March.
A statement issued on Monday night Sydney time on behalf of 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.”
Hallmark said it was “thrilled to partner with Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group on the Australian portfolio”. The sale is a franchise arrangement and Oliver will not retain any shareholding in the Australian group.
“We’ll be working closely with Jamie and the UK team, staff and local suppliers to keep driving the business forward and delivering exceptional experiences across the country,” Hallmark said.
Oliver’s businesses in the UK have been struggling to restructure their way out of debts of £71.5m (A$132m). One of Oliver’s flagship restaurants closed after falling into administration, and the Jamie’s Italian division closed outlets in a bid to stem heavy losses.
In December, Oliver pumped £3m of his own money into the business, and in January the chain said it would close 12 of its 37 UK branches, as part of a rescue deal with its creditors to keep trading.
Oliver’s spokeswoman told the Guardian in February the £71.5m figure for the debt of the UK business painted a distorted picture – £47m is covered by loans from HSBC and Jamie Oliver companies.
The most recent financials revealed a pre-tax loss of £9.9m on revenue of £112m in 2016. Sales were down 3%. The UK business entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement believing it could trade out of its troubles.