Jamie Oliver is back.
Like a knight in shining chef’s whites, the father-of-five has returned to Australia after buying back all six of his Jamie’s Italian restaurants last November.
Oliver was at the relaunch of the Parramatta location on Monday; chatting to staff and posing for selfies like the celebrity chef he is.
He also made sure to drop into Woolworths headquarters for a live cooking demo, much to the delight of fans.
Showcasing the supermarket’s fresh produce, fans shared snaps to Instagram of the famous chef whipping up a variety of dishes and posing for selfies, of course.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BT1U3RsBREh/?taken-by=jamieoliver&hl=en
Oliver’s return to Oz follows the failure of six of the Jamie’s Italian UK restaurants in January.
Forced to shut down, 120 staff were left unemployed.
Oliver blamed the falling pound and Brexit as the main culprits for the restaurants’ flop.
However, with the buy-back and relaunch of at least one of his six Aussie restaurants, Oliver seemed in good spirits during his visit to the Parramatta location.
The Australian arm of the franchise were taken back from failed hospitality company the Keystone Group last November after Keystone failed to renegotiate an $80 million loan with its financiers.
Oliver said the Australian locations were some of the top performers in the chain worldwide and were only put up for sale when Keystone went into receivership.
“This was in no way a reflection on the performance or success of the restaurants,” he said in a statement from his London office.
No price was disclosed and all of Jamie’s Italian Australian locations are leased.