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Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 9:01 pm
by Gemini73
:lol:

Love Mallrats

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:10 pm
by Hexx
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/m ... es-italian

Jamie Oliver’s restaurant empire is calling in administrators, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk.

The company, which includes 23 Jamie’s Italian outlets, plus the Fifteen and Barbecoa restaurants in London and Jamie’s Diner at Gatwick airport, said KPMG would be appointed as administrator..

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:14 pm
by Moggy
If he sold turkey twizzlers then he wouldn't have to close his restaurants.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:18 pm
by Godzilla
Sad for those people who are losing a job, terrible restaurant though. Tiny portions, high price and about as authentic as a Harvester.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:19 pm
by KK
Always found it hypocritical how he kept criticising other (more successful) restaurants for their behaviour and food practises when he couldn’t even get his own house in order. A few even failed health and safety inspections.

More interested in slapping his brand on everything under the sun and ultimately it becomes impossible to do anything well (see also: “jerk rice”).

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:25 pm
by Preezy
I used his Gatwick diner for breakfast the other week, was pretty good. Ah well, I'm sure there'll be another chain along shortly to replace it. The wheel keeps spinning.

Also for the record, I can't stand the guy himself, so I shed no tears for his reputation.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:34 pm
by KK
All about that street food/food halls/pop-up informal eating these days. Also helps mitigate the sky high rents and various other overheads.

If you’re doing Italian, you’ve also got to do it extremely well. People aren’t going to pay mega money to sit in a restaurant just for a small portion of pasta and a Loyd Grossman equivalent sauce.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 2:21 pm
by Vermilion
KK wrote:If you’re doing Italian, you’ve also got to do it extremely well. People aren’t going to pay mega money to sit in a restaurant just for a small portion of pasta and a Loyd Grossman equivalent sauce.


Very true, when i stayed in Italy, the hotel there served huge portions of their pasta, and it was amazing.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 3:35 pm
by Jenuall
The high street Italian restaurant has been a packed marketplace for years - Prezzo, Zizzi, Bella Italia, Pizza Express, ASK Italian etc. Jamie had to do something to stand out from the crowd and it never managed to do that.

Surprised it lasted this long to be fair.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 3:45 pm
by Lex-Man
The Jamie's Italian in Richmond was pretty good and always pack, although admittedly that was 5 years ago now. It closed a while ago but his restaurants were very hit and miss.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 10:37 pm
by Oblomov Boblomov
I remember enjoying it a lot, the one time I went, years ago. Shame.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 10:45 pm
by Victor Mildew
We went to the one in Cardiff and it was gooseberry fool. Overpriced pretentious rubbish (meat served on a strawberry floating cricket bat ffs). Really mediocre food I could have cooked myself and it cost close to £80 I think for two of us.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 11:21 pm
by KK
Ad7 wrote:We went to the one in Cardiff and it was gooseberry fool. Overpriced pretentious rubbish (meat served on a strawberry floating cricket bat ffs). Really mediocre food I could have cooked myself and it cost close to £80 I think for two of us.

Sounds like you weren’t...bowled over.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 7:29 am
by Moggy
KK wrote:
Ad7 wrote:We went to the one in Cardiff and it was gooseberry fool. Overpriced pretentious rubbish (meat served on a strawberry floating cricket bat ffs). Really mediocre food I could have cooked myself and it cost close to £80 I think for two of us.

Sounds like you weren’t...bowled over.


Whereas Oblomov sounds like he was...hit for six.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 8:35 am
by Dowbocop
I went to a Jamie's Italian for a work Christmas do a few years ago. It seems to me that they were an Italian restaurant that couldn't actually do Italian food. I had a rolled pork thing with veg and sauce and it was perfectly pleasant, but on either side of me were colleagues unhappily poking cold undercooked pasta. I know it was Christmas season so it's all set menus, but my wife had much the same experience on a regular visit.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 9:46 am
by Lex-Man
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... estigation

Five people have been arrested and questioned over alleged accounting fraud at Patisserie Valerie, in a dramatic escalation of the investigation into the cafe chain’s financial implosion.

According to a statement from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) issued over the weekend, the arrests took place last Tuesday in a joint operation with Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Metropolitan police services after the discovery of a multimillion-pound gap in the company’s accounts late last year.

The SFO did not disclose the names of those arrested or what they had been detained for, although said it was conducting inquiries into the role of individuals in the firm’s slide into administration. The company went bust in January, sparking the loss of 900 jobs when 70 of its almost-200 stores and concessions closed.


It's good that somethings happened. I wonder if it'll lead to any convictions.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 9:49 am
by Trelliz
Lex-Man wrote:https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/23/sfo-arrests-five-in-patisserie-valerie-investigation

Five people have been arrested and questioned over alleged accounting fraud at Patisserie Valerie, in a dramatic escalation of the investigation into the cafe chain’s financial implosion.

According to a statement from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) issued over the weekend, the arrests took place last Tuesday in a joint operation with Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Metropolitan police services after the discovery of a multimillion-pound gap in the company’s accounts late last year.

The SFO did not disclose the names of those arrested or what they had been detained for, although said it was conducting inquiries into the role of individuals in the firm’s slide into administration. The company went bust in January, sparking the loss of 900 jobs when 70 of its almost-200 stores and concessions closed.


It's good that somethings happened. I wonder if it'll lead to any convictions.


Sounds like they tried to have their cake and eat it too.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 9:50 am
by Preezy
Take them into custardy, boys.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 10:58 am
by Moggy
Sweet justice.

Re: The Retail Apocalypse (Incorporating Casual Dining Closures)

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 11:19 am
by Cumberdanes
Sound like they got their just desserts.