Friday Five: the week's top news
- Jamie Oliver's UK restaurant group has entered administration, with the closure of 22 restaurants and loss of 1,000 jobs. Oliver said he was "devastated" at the situation, which comes less than two years after the chain was saved from collapse. All high street Jamie's Italian sites have closed along with Barbecoa and Fifteen in London.
- Kiwi chef Peter Gordon and Michael McGrath are to close their London restaurant The Providores and Tapa Room after 18 years. The site, which made an impact in 2001 with its brunch menus and small plate, fusion cuisine, will shut at the end of July.
- The Eat cafe chain could disappear from the high street after Pret a Manger confirmed it had agreed to buy the group. Pret says it will rebrand 'as many as possible' of Eat's 94 stores to its Veggie Pret concept in a bid to 'turbo charge' its growth.
- The restaurant industry 'boom period' is over with more than 750 sites closing in the last year, according to the latest Market Growth Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners. The report says the pace of closures for larger restaurant groups was higher in the south of England compared to the north, which it cited as evidence restaurant levels had reached 'saturation point' in many southern areas.
- Restaurant owners have been warned that HMRC is continuing to target the industry in a bid to crackdown on tax avoiders. Accountancy firm BDO says restaurants and takeaways make up 26% of businesses 'named and shamed' by the government since December 2017.
For more of this week's news, click here.
