Remember his first big move? Fifteen was a total game-changer. It wasn’t just a restaurant; it was a social experiment with killer pasta.
He opened one in London, then another in Cornwall, then Amsterdam and Melbourne. For a hot minute, you couldn’t swing a wooden spoon without hitting a Fifteen. How many were there at the peak? About four or five locations, depending on how you count the pop-ups.
It felt like he was everywhere. Then, whoosh, the honeymoon ended, and the Cornish one closed. Cue the sad trombone.
Enter Jamie’s Italian: The Beast That Ate Itself
Then came the big one. Jamie’s Italian was his attempt to put a banging plate of pasta in every British high street. It exploded. At its peak in 2016, there were over 40 locations in the UK alone.
Forty! That’s a lot of garlic bread. Plus, there were outposts in Australia, Ireland, and even a few in Asia. The man was a noodle-slinging warlord.
But then – gulp – the rent got too high, the competition got fierce, and the chain collapsed into administration in 2019. Poof. Almost all of them vanished. It was like watching a soufflé deflate in slow motion.
How Many Restaurants Does Jamie Oliver Have?
