A shocking new report by KPMG has revealed that lenders are likely to lose most of the £80m owed to them following the UK collapse of Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian restaurant chain last year.
Those facing the greatest losses include Mr Oliver’s own holding company, which was owed £57.7m of the company’s secured debt. Others set to face ‘significant shortfall’ include many of the restaurant chain's loyal suppliers, its principal bank creditor HSBC, and many town councils nationwide who are owed a collective total of £1.2m in business rates and other levies. As for its unsecured creditors, KPMG claims that they have ‘anticipated a distribution will be made…However, we are not yet able to confirm the quantum or timing’.
A report released last week from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that the collapse of Jamie’s Italian was the most high-profile of all restaurant closures in 2019 with the company accounting for 1,000 of the 11,280 sector wide job losses. However, KPMG was quick to note in its progress report that a further 250 jobs were saved when the remaining three outlets of Jamie’s Italian, housed in Gatwick Airport, were bought by catering company SSP for £550,000. The administrator was also able to secure £1.45 million from the selling of six leases although this only contributes a very minor indent in the overall amount owed by the company when it went into administration.
Following the announcement of the collapse last year, Jamie told The Guardian: “I appreciate how difficult this is for everyone affected. We launched Jamie’s Italian in 2008 with the intention of positively disrupting mid-market dining in the UK high street, with great value and much higher quality ingredients, best-in-class animal welfare standards and an amazing team who shared my passion for great food and service. And we did exactly that.”
Want more from Jamie Oliver? Read his recent revelation regarding his struggles with dyslexia.