Jamie Oliver: Every picture tells a story

[nickyboy]

Profit is primarily an accounting trick. If you want less profit, simply pay your executives more, as long as your shareholders don't mind.

It took my 5 minutes to find out that Jamie's Italian Ltd has a turnover of about £100m and the total salaries of the five directors was £500,000. Now that's a handy sum but is modest for a business of that size and certainly not the reason it has got into financial difficulties

Chain restaurants are all struggling. What the business did was spend too much money on renovations to leaseholds and then the backside started to fall out of these restaurant chains. They cost too much to run and don't offer value for money. When the tide turns against them, they're toast

 

[Bonefish Blues]

...and there's no profit in toast.

 

[NorthernDave]

My wife once had a meal in one of his restaurant in Bristol. She said it was nothing special , small portions and overpriced.

A mate said exactly the same this morning about one in Cardiff. He sent his back and insisted they add more to it as it resembled a children's portion.

To be fair, that wasn't our experience - while the portions weren't huge, they were acceptable and we never left there feeling hungry. The quality was definitely there too.
In fact I'd say the cost of dining at Jamie's Italian was positively fantastic value compared to the cost of eating from the main menu at Frankie and Benny's, especially when you consider the quality of the food.

 

[mjr]

It took my 5 minutes to find out that Jamie's Italian Ltd has a turnover of about £100m and the total salaries of the five directors was £500,000. Now that's a handy sum but is modest for a business of that size and certainly not the reason it has got into financial difficulties

I wrote pay, you wrote salaries. I wrote executives, you wrote directors.

It probably isn't the reason for the collapse but it can in general make the profit figure highly uninformative.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I bet his massive army of tv friends are upset

 

[Rusty Nails]

Jamie Oliver's restaurants, like all the other chain outlets seem to choose the most expensive city centre sites operating on tight margins so it doesn't take much of a customer slow-down in spending to put them in trouble. I've just got back from Nice and Oliver is almost taking over eating at Terminal 2. The prices were ridiculously high, but I suppose that reflects the airport rents.

I hope that this latest set of closures of a big chain provides an opportunity for the smaller, privately owned Italian restaurants who, imo, provide a much better dining experience and night out.....and you can hear each other talk without having to shout over the reflected noise from steel/concrete/glass buildings.

 

[Globalti]

We've tried the restaurants in Manchester and Edinburgh and haven't gone back. The pasta dishes were no different from what you can do at home with fresh pasta and a jar of sauce and you had a strong feeling that you were actually being fed by a computer. As above, I'd rather go to a family-run Italian where there's a bit of flare and character.

Most home owners and restauranteurs ignore the problem of acoustics. In a big echoey room conversation is impossible but you've only got to hang a couple of acoustic pads from the walls or ceiling to soak up all the nasty resonance and transform the room.

 

[MichaelW2]

Price, quality, number of outlets. Pick any two

 

[Levo-Lon]

Maybe he should have stopped putting creme fresh on everything.. Fekin shyte

 

[fossyant]

The Manchester branch is massive and in an expensive location. Food was OK, but did get it via an offer - nothing 'special'. I've eaten in the Liverpool one (horrid food) and Manchester (OK). We've got restaurants opening and closing regularly in Manchester. Jamies isn't a patch on 'Don Giovanni's' in Manchester.

Shockingly low profits considering the level of turnover.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

We used to eat there once a year (Cheltenham branch for choice) because as a Gold Card holder they gave you a free bottle of prosecco on your birthday. Lord knows how much they lost - we did that for 5 or 6 years IIRC.

 

[PK99]

We used to eat there once a year (Cheltenham branch for choice) because as a Gold Card holder they gave you a free bottle of prosecco on your birthday. Lord knows how much they lost - we did that for 5 or 6 years IIRC.

If they got you in when you would not have gone there, it cost them somewhat less than £10 (£29 wine list price) and you paid how much for food and other booze? They made a profit!

Naked wines buy a lot of business by freebie offers. They reckon, IIRC, to make a factor 4 profit on future sales to customers tempted in by the freebies.

 

[biggs682]

...and there's no profit in toast.

There was for Paul Young

 

[Bonefish Blues]

If they got you in when you would not have gone there, it cost them somewhat less than £10 (£29 wine list price) and you paid how much for food and other booze? They made a profit!

Naked wines buy a lot of business by freebie offers. They reckon, IIRC, to make a factor 4 profit on future sales to customers tempted in by the freebies.

Not certain customers who only sign up for freebies, they don't

 

[PK99]

Not certain customers who only sign up for freebies, they don't

on average....