Jamie's Italian restaurants close in Hong Kong and Taiwan
The Taipei outlet of Jamie Oliver’s overseas empire ceased trading on 27 February while the Hong Kong sites shut on 28 February, with the total loss of 100 jobs.
Big Cat Group, which has run the restaurants under franchise since 2014, told the South China Morning Post it suffered a “major drop” in footfall due to the anti-government protests in Hong Kong last year.
The coronavirus outbreak has also impacted sales and deterred people from eating out.
“Taiwan has also been heavily impacted by coronavirus given the risk to exports, as well as the constraints on inbound travel impacting overall consumer sentiment,” the company said.
Though Jamie Oliver’s UK restaurant arm collapsed in 2019 the chef still runs a successful international business, trading from around 70 sites across 27 markets with 21 franchise partners.
Big Cat Group also partnered with luxury UK retailer Fortnum & Mason to bring the brand to Hong Kong in 2019.
