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Jamie Oliver Blames 2019 Restaurant Collapse on His Struggle With Numbers

The 2019 administration shut most UK sites, costing about 1,000 jobs.

Overview

  • Speaking on Davina McCall’s Begin Again podcast, he said he got the basics wrong and was "conceptually thick."
  • He linked the failure to a lifelong discomfort with maths, saying he did not pass the subject at school.
  • The closures affected Jamie’s Italian, Barbecoa and Fifteen across the UK.
  • At the time it was reported the business owed roughly £83 million, and separate reports said he used personal funds to cover staff wages.
  • He cast failure as a teacher, saying he has retrained himself and pursued a 2022 return with a delivery-focused venture.