Jamie Oliver has previously been open about the "dark time" he went through when he was forced to close several restaurants earlier this year.
And now the celebrity chef has revealed how much the difficult time – which saw him close 12 out of 37 Jamies Italian restaurants and one of his Barbecoa steak restaurants – actually cost him.
After being given two hours to save his restaurant chain, Jamie paid £12.7million of his own money into the business.
The dad-of-five initially put £7.5million from his own savings into his Jamies Italian chain, followed by an additional £5.2million.
The business also took out a further £37million in loans.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Jamie said the company had “simply run out of cash”.
He explained, “I had two hours to put money in and save it or the whole thing would go to s**t that day or the next day… it was as bad as that and as dramatic as that.
When asked what caused the financial problems, Jamie said Brexit was among a number of factors including rental costs, local government rates, and the increase in the minimum wage, which caused a “perfect storm”.
Its not the first time Jamie has opened up about his business difficulties, having opened up to Womans Weekly earlier this year on that, as well as the tragic death of his friend and fellow celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
He said, “Restaurant years are like dog years, so 10 years is a very long time. Its been a dark time… theres been not-so-nice darkness.
“Its been rough. When it rains it pours.”
Jamie, however, praised his children and wife for helping him through his hard times, calling his children an “amazing remedy”.
He said, “I go home and see my kids and that always cheers me up.”
Jamie confessed he finds raising teenagers a challenging experience too, confessing he and Jools have “struggled at times”.
He said, “You have to retune from having a child to a young woman. Whether were pulling back or tightening up… especially with social media. Were the first generation of parents having to feel our way through that. If we have too many blips at home, Ill take their phone away for a day.”
The post Jamie Oliver reveals how much it cost him to save restaurants from bankruptcy appeared first on Woman Magazine.
