TV chef Jamie Oliver is understood to be planning a new restaurant in Manchester city centre.
The new eaterie will be called Jamie’s Italian and occupy former bank premises at 100 King Street.
It’s the latest in a series of so-called “neighbourhood” restaurants to be launched by the celebrity cook and star of The Naked Chef. The first Jamie’s Italian opened in 2008 and he now has 14 across the UK in places as far apart as Glasgow and Brighton.
In addition to the Manchester plan, a further three Italian restaurants are planned for Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol in 2011.
The 1920s-built King Street premises which are being targeted by Oliver were previously occupied by the Midland/HSBC.
Oliver says the Jamie’s Italian franchise aims to offer affordable, rustic Italian food on the high street.
“Since I was a teenager I’ve been totally besotted by the love, passion and verve for food, family and life itself that just about all Italian people have,” he says.
Although Oliver’s representatives admit he won’t always be found in the kitchen of the Manchester restaurant, they say he is closely involved in the sourcing of ingredients and working with his executive chefs to maintain and improve the menu. Oliver is also in the habit of making unannounced visits to his restaurants, they add.
35- year-old Oliver’s name is linked with a huge range of food-related enterprises, stretching from TV challenge shows and supermarket advertising to kitchen utensils and cookery books. Jamie Oliver Holdings’ profits were close to £7m in 2009.
His first foray into the catering business came as an eight-year-old, peeling potatoes in his parent’s pub kitchen. He trained with food stars including Antonio Carluccio and the duo behind the legendary River Cafe restaurant, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.
As well as helping to shape government policy on school meals through his famous excoriation of highly processed meat – the Turkey Twizzler – that was being served up for school dinners, Oliver has also founded the Fifteen chain of restaurants - a charitable enterprise aimed at giving a break to aspiring catering industry workers from under-privileged backgrounds.
Jamie Oliver’s press spokesman could not give a definite date for the opening but said: “Next summer, all being well. We can’t pinpoint a specific month yet.”
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