Anyone under the impression that the newly opened Jamie’s Italian in London’s Leicester Square has launched without any involvement from its eponymous chef need only look at his Instagram page to know that isn’t the case. Sure, Oliver may not have any skin in the game financially this time around – the restaurant opening under a strategic partnership between Jamie Oliver Restaurants and Prezzo Italian owner Brava Hospitality Group – but he remains a very active participant in the project, working with the chefs, developing dishes, and even going so far as to take calligraphy lessons so he could handwrite the menus personally, a process that reputedly took him seven hours to complete.
“It’s a very personal project [to Jamie],” says Ed Loftus, global director of Jamie Oliver Restaurants. “To come back and have a second chance is not something any of us have taken lightly. But it’s his name above the door and it means a lot to him.”
“The general public still love him,” adds James Brown, CEO at Brava Hospitality Group. “There’s so much goodwill.” He goes on to note that in the days leading up to the launch they’ve had someone constantly monitoring the restaurant’s entrance to stop passers by coming in to ask him for a picture. “Having a central London location with that appeal is huge.”
Less ‘why?’ and more ‘why not?’
On 11 March Jamie’s Italian returned to the UK’s restaurant scene after a seven-year absence following the brand’s closure in 2019 when Oliver’s UK restaurant group fell into administration. Located on Leicester Square, the new 140-cover restaurant is spread over three floors and is ‘designed to blend nostalgia with modernity, capturing the original essence of Jamie’s Italian with a contemporary twist for today’s diners’.
Brown has described the opening as a “huge moment” for Brava and the Jamie’s Italian teams and says both teams have spent months ‘refining and elevating the offer’ to deliver on their vision. In a press statement before its launch, he was quoted as saying: “Jamie’s Italian is now set to reimagine the high street through its exceptional, modern and generous hospitality.”
Given that the high-profile crash of Jamie Oliver’s UK business, where more than 1,000 jobs were lost when it closed alongside his Barbecoa and Fifteen London restaurants in 2019, is still fresh is many people’s minds - Oliver appeared on Davina McCall’s Begin Again podcast just last year and was asked about it - the pressing question is why resurrect the brand in the UK?
For one, the trading environment seems a lot more challenging this time round. The Jamie’s Italian of 2026 faces fierce competition from other spaces within the sector, particular QSR, in attracting value seeking diners; high inflation is squeezing margins; and shifting consumer habits is placing more pressure on restaurants to deliver on high expectations for experience and quality. Casual dining remains stuck in a rut, so it doesn’t seem a propitious time for a comeback.
Though not dismissive of the challenges, Loftus is confident they can be overcome. “When we launched Jamie’s Italian in 2008, the outlook wasn’t great,” he insists. “But in times of challenge and struggle there’s always a need for optimism. Hospitality isn’t going anywhere; people want to eat out and will continue to do so. They want to have good value and experiences, and with Brava we had a great opportunity to invest some money and do something optimistic and positive, which delivers a great guest experience.
“For us it could be the perfect time. It’s less a question of why, and more why not?”
As a consumer I didn’t think Jamie’s Italian had run its course
James Brown
While Oliver’s profile might not be as high as it was back in 2019, there is also the belief that he still has a place in people’s hearts. “As a consumer I didn’t think Jamie’s Italian had run its course, despite the difficulties in the UK the brand has only grown,” says Brown. “When you look at global chefs and how well Jamie is known he’s in the top five – maybe even the top three based on book sales and the brand awareness he has. There are 70 [Jamie Oliver branded] restaurants over the world and there are plenty of people looking for that Jamie experience.”
Retaining brand equity
Loftus also points to the continued success of Jamie’s Italian overseas where it has more than 30 locations across 15 countries. He also notes that there have been ‘plenty of offers and opportunities’ to bring Jamie’s Italian back to the UK in the past few years. “There’s a huge demand for it, and people are excited about seeing it come back.”
It’s not just with the public that brand equity apparently remains strong, either. The group’s collapse in 2019 famously saw landlords, food suppliers and other creditors left out of pocket to the tune of roughly £83m, with little or no compensation. Despite this, suppliers, including those that worked with the group before, have been approaching and showing interest in the relaunch since it was first announced back in December.
“There’s lots of suppliers that grew with Jamie’s brand before,” says Loftus. “What happened to us has happened to lots of operators. “Businesses aren’t always straightforward and sometimes people fail. All of the suppliers that we’ve worked with before are happy to work with us again. That’s a great endorsement of Jamie. He loves to champion the food chain in general, and we do that in our own way here.”
Landlords, also including those who dealt with Jamie’s Italian first time round, have also shown an interest. “The one thing that has surprised me is just how many landlords have come to me wanting Jamie’s back,” says Brown. “Even the ones who lost their shirt in the administration because of how much traffic it brought to the area.”
A change of tack
For Brown, the decision to partner with the Jamie Oliver Group is an investment in the long-term future of the Brava business. The casual dining group, which he took over in October 2024 having previously held a high-profile job at BrewDog, has made significant strides in the past year after its core Prezzo brand relaunched as Prezzo Italian; a change that kickstarted a refurbishment programme of the group’s estate.
In its recently published financials for 2025, the group reported revenue of £100.2m over the year, up from £92.6m in 2024, with full-year like-for-like (LFL) growth of 8%, rising to 8.2% in December amid ‘sustained momentum into the final quarter of the year’.
Adjusted EBITDA, meanwhile, rose by more than 300% to reach £2.8m (2024: £0.6m).
“There’s no better money spent in my business than refurbishing a Prezzo,” Brown says. “It’s working well for us, and we need to make sure we remain laser focused on it. Partnering with Ed and the Jamie Oliver Group is an investment in the long-term future of the business and growth three or four years down the line.”
To come back and have a second chance is not something any of us have taken lightly. But it’s Jamie’s name above the door and it means a lot to him
Ed Loftus
In fact, the turnaround of Prezzo’s fortunes caught Brown off guard a bit. The initial play, he says, was to go to Jamie Oliver Group with the option of opening Jamie’s Italians in former Prezzo sites as a way of restarting the Jamie’s Italian brand in the UK. However, the success of the rebooted Prezzo Italian has since put paid to these plans.
“The original idea was to go to Jamie Oliver Restaurants and say, ‘I’ve got 97 Italian restaurants in the UK, you’ve got capital and a great team, do you want to just flip it?’,” admits Brown. “They were open to that, but as time went on, I was also working to find a solution with Prezzo, and I gave it my best shot, and it worked.
“Effectively we’ve done a complete U-turn and instead we’re now looking for new locations [for Jamie’s Italian].
Further expansion has already been mooted, with Brava’s accounts stating that the agreement is to open 40 sites over 10 years, with the group also holding exclusive rights to airports and other concepts launched in the UK by Oliver.
Jamie’s Italian 2.0
Any talk of expansion is dependent on getting the first restaurant right and the pair are well aware of what’s at stake. The success of the brand going forward rests on how well the Leicester Square restaurant is received, and a lot of energy has gone into giving it the best possible launch.
In terms of aesthetic, the interiors are notably softer than before; the industrial chic look is out, replaced by a warmer, more colourful palette of reds and greens that’s complemented with dozens of framed pictures and photos chosen by Oliver himself.
“Almost every touch point will be different to what diners in the UK have seen before,” says Loftus. Spread over three levels, each area has been created with its own ambience. The first floor will be mainly for reservations and has a slower pace; the ground floor, much of which is taken up by the open kitchen, has a more kinetic energy; and the basement, which houses the restaurant’s bar, will be ‘a bit moodier’.
“This is a completely new iteration of the brand,” Loftus continues. “Hospitality is all about experience. And trying to create different zones and experiences within the restaurant is something we’ve worked really hard at.”
The original idea was to go to Jamie Oliver Restaurants and say, ‘I’ve got 97 Italian restaurants in the UK, you’ve got capital and a great team, do you want to just flip it?’
James Brown
The menu too has had a revamp. The ethos remains the same, with an emphasis on bold flavour and well-sourced ingredients, and there are plenty of familiar dishes including a new take on the chef’s signature ’meat plank’ platters that combine Cobble Lane speck, finocchiona, schiacciata picante and mortadella with stracciatella, focaccia, olives and giardiniera; the ravioli fritti with whipped ricotta; and a pappardelle bolognese featuring Oliver’s mentor Gennaro Contaldo’s signature slow-cooked beef and pork ragù.
As before, the main emphasis is on fresh pasta. “That’s the core of the brand,” says Loftus. “It’s at a great price point and something we pride ourselves on.”
Initial reaction so far has been good, according to Brown, who admits that not everything is perfect and that changes are ongoing. He expects the menu to change ‘three or four times’ before the summer based on customer feedback, but says the fundamentals are there.
What of a critical response? Do they expect the critics to come and is there are worry they will have their knives out for Jamie based on what has gone before?
“They will come,” says Brown, “and I’m pretty confident they will like it. It’s fresh pasta made on site every day, the sourcing is impeccable and the execution is good. Jamie has designed every dish and trained every chef. He has been so invested in the project.”
Scope and opportunity
Whatever the critical response may be, there is undeniably a quiet confidence that surrounds the return of Jamie’s Italian to London and beyond. Such a move was unlikely to ever just involve the opening of one restaurant and Brown says that even though the focus is still firmly on restaurant number one the process of seeking out additional sites has already begun.
“The success of this business is that people come in and love it and come back. It’s as simple as that,” he says. “We’ve not taken this on to just do one, but we’re focused on making this restaurant brilliant. Everything is possible after that.
“We would love to do more. Our attitude is not to come in and say we want to open 100 sites: it’s about getting the first one right. That’s what’s important.” Loftus strikes a similar tone. “We want to do our own thing. The choice for the UK diner is huge right now; there’s everything out there. Our job is to work hard and deliver a great experience.
“We don’t really look at the competitors. It’s more about just executing, doing a great job and making people happy.”
This feature is based on an interview with Ed Loftus and James Brown that first appeared on MCA last month and also an interview with James Brown at Restaurant’s R200 lunch, held last month.