Jamie Oliver scrambles to pull out of Russia
The Sunday Telegraph reports that The celebrity chef’s restaurant company, Jamie Oliver Group, is scrapping an agreement with its franchisee partner Ginza Project, which has operated a Jamie’s Italian in the centre of Moscow for almost a decade.
Ginza this weekend was ordered to strip out all Jamie’s Italian branding from the site and will also be required to shut down all branded social media.
It must also close the Jamie Oliver cookery school in Moscow that has been open for just over six years.
A spokesman for Jamie Oliver said: “We are exiting our franchise agreement and our operations in Russia will cease trading.”
Oliver's restaurant group is one of a growing number of foodservice operators to either suspend or sever operations with Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine.
Last week, high street hospitality chains including McDonald’s, Starbucks and Pizza Hut, which collectively have thousands of locations across Russia, all announced separately that they would pause business in the country.
McDonald’s decision to temporarily close its restaurants is particularly symbolic. The fast food giant first opened in Russia on 31 January 1990, a move that was hailed at the time as a sign of thawing Cold War relations.
