Jamie Oliver’s empire sees three UK restaurants saved

Following the collapse of his restaurant business last month, celebrity chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver’s three remaining outlets in Gatwick Airport have been sold to SSP Group, saving 250 jobs.

Jamie Oliver site at Gatwick Airport

The three restaurants at Gatwick include Jamie Oliver’s Diner, Jamie’s Italian and Jamie’s Coffee Lounge.

The outlets have been bought out of administration by SSP Group, the food-to-go specialists behind Upper Crust and Ritazza restaurants.

SSP’s acquisition of the three Gatwick sites will add to the portfolio of 12 international Jamie Oliver restaurants the company currently operates.

The deal comes less than a month after administrators KPMG closed the other 22 of the chef’s 25 restaurants after investment could not be secured to keep them trading. 

The closures, which included Jamie’s Italian, Barbecoa and Fifteen London, led to around 1,000 redundancies.

Chief executive of SSP Group, Simon Smith, said: “We’re delighted to be expanding our partnership with Jamie Oliver, especially as we already operate 12 Jamie Oliver units in Austria, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, and have further units planned in Brazil and Bahrain.

“Jamie’s cafes and restaurants are much loved by customers all around the world, so we’re very excited to be adding the brand to our UK portfolio and increasing our presence at Gatwick Airport.”