Jamie Oliver sells off Australian restaurants
The chef’s Jamie’s Italian site in Canberra has shut its doors after it was sold alongside the remaining five restaurants to Brisbane-based Hallmark.
The company has taken over the management of Jamie’s Italian sites in Adelaide, Brisbane, Paramatta, Perth and Sydney, and is actively seeking new locations for further openings.
It comes less than two years after the chef bought back his Australian restaurants after the collapse of franchisee Keystone Group.
A spokesperson for the Jamie Oliver Group confirmed the sites were sold to Hallmark through voluntary administration.
“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,” says Ben Shaughnessy, COO of the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group Australia.
“The team brings a huge amount of experience and passion for our brand, from collaborating with the key suppliers to our food philosophy, and we look forward to working with them as they develop the Jamie’s Italian restaurant offering across Australia.”
Hallmark says it will be working closely with Oliver and his team in the UK to drive the business forward.
It follows a major restructure of the chef’s UK restaurant group which has seen the closure of 12 of its 37 Jamie’s Italian sites and its Barbecoa grill in Piccadilly this year.
Last week Oliver announced the launch of a 10-year partnership with Aramark that will see the company expand away from the troubled high street with restaurants in universities, workplaces and possibly stadiums.
Oliver launched his first Australian restaurant in Sydney in 2011 and operates 53 sites across the world.
