The Real Reason Jamie Oliver's Restaurant Empire Is Collapsing

In May 2019, Jamie Oliver — one of the world's biggest celebrity chefs — saw his restaurant empire come crashing down. It's been just over a decade since his Jamie's Italian brand of restaurants first launched in 2008. How could such a popular celebrity's restaurant empire fall so far, so fast?

This massive 2019 closure isn't the first time Oliver has shuttered doors. In 2014, The Guardian reported on another set of Oliver-inspired restaurants — Union Jacks — that were closing.

The Guardian has also reported that Oliver's restaurants have been in trouble for a long, long time. In 2017, they released the numbers from the previous year and revealed that while they had logged a $3 million profit in 2015, 2016 brought a $12.6 million loss. By 2018, The Telegraph was reporting some of Jamie's Italian's 40+ locations were going to be closing.

Oliver closed his chain of cookery shops, Recipease, in 2015. According to The Guardian, the presses stopped rolling on his self-titled food magazine, Jamie, in 2017.

That's a lot of stuff coming to a close.

Watch the video to see the real reason Jamie Oliver's restaurant empire is collapsing!

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Long struggle | 0:18
Non-disclosure agreements | 1:01
Brexit to blame | 1:48
Disconnect with fans | 2:27
Major debt | 3:05
Too much too fast | 3:59
Massively polarizing | 4:39
Perfect storm | 5:42
Not good at business? | 6:36
Skyrocketing costs | 7:27
What now? | 8:09
Don't feel too bad | 8:52