Jules Hunt, one of the driving forces behind the growth of Jamie Oliver’s restaurant business, has stepped down from the company, M&C has learnt.
Hunt was executive chef director of the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group and played a key role in the development and expansion of Jamie’s Italian, Barbecoa and Union Jacks.
Simon Blagden, chief executive of Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, told M&C: “It goes without saying that we as a team could never have got Jamie’s Italian to the size and standard it is today without Jules’ passion enthusiasm and ruthless determination. He is totally unique a very special person and will be sorely missed.”
M&C understands that the group is currently reviewing its options in regards to the role Hunt has stepped down from.
Earlier this year, Blagden told M&C said that there was a limit of how many restaurants the group will open in the UK and hinted that the group may not do many more openings under its fledgling Trattoria format.
Blagden told M&C: “The question for us is how many Jamie Oliver restaurants should there be in the UK? We have to watch this fine line of the public becoming fed up with him and looking like we are trying to maximise every opportunity because we are not. Maybe 50 is the right number with Trattoria included and that might be a nice size of business going forward. If then you have got international growth on top of that, then that could be a nice model going forward for us.
“I think as it has evolved Jamie’s Trattoria, rightly or wrongly, has become too much like Jamie’s Italian. So there is good points and bad points and we are at the stage of working out much its should be like Jamie’s Italian and how much should it be a brand in its own right.”
Trading wise, Blagden said that the company was “very pleased with how things are going”.
The group is set to open a new Jamie’s Italian at the New Ludgate development.
