Jamie Oliver’s food empire saw a strong rebound in sales and profits last year as it prepares to re-enter the UK restaurant space.
The group, which spans the chef’s licensed Mediterranean grocery range and international restaurants as well as TV and book publishing, saw an 8.1% rise in revenues in 2022 to £29.7m.
This was driven by a jump in TV production income from £1.2m to £2.9m while franchise income rose from £1.6m to £3.7m.
This mitigated a fall from £17.9m to £16.2m in income relating to royalties, endorsements and licencing – such as the grocery range produced in partnership with Vivo Foods.
Profits were also up despite elevated costs. Pre-tax profits rose 17.5% to £7.7m while pre-exceptional EBITDA was up 4.4% to £9.3m, reflecting a 11.4% rise in cost of sales.
CEO Kevin Styles, who joined during the 2022 financial year, said the results show “the Jamie Oliver brand continues to resonate with audiences round the world”.
“We have the foundations in place from which to continue to evolve.”
The results mark a sharp turnaround following the collapse of Oliver’s UK restaurant chain in 2019, with the closure of 22 locations.
Group performance last year was boosted by continued growth of its restaurant franchise business outside the UK, which grew by 13 restaurants to now encompass 70 restaurants in 22 countries across formats including Jamie’s Italian, Jamie’s Deli, Jamie Oliver Kitchen and more.
The group is poised to open its first high street restaurant since the 2019 collapse this year in London’s Covent Garden, but it will focus on a higher-end proposition rather than its former mid-market offering.
Meanwhile, it sold 16 million units of Jamie Oliver food products across 26 countries.
Oliver’s partnership with Viva Foods sees the licenced production of pasta sauces, pestos, oils, vinegars and antipasti are sold worldwide.
The group also highlighted that Oliver’s long term brand partnership with Tesco helped the supermarket achieve its target tracking score for “Tesco helps customers and their families lead healthier lives”, with 83% of all recipes created for the partnership meat-free or meat-reduced.
Megan Van Someren, chief commercial officer, Jamie Oliver Group, added: “It’s an incredibly exciting time at the Jamie Oliver Group. We are laser focused on creating a global, B Corp certified, integrated food business that builds on strong media, restaurant and partnership foundations. In depth global audience research tells us, unequivocally, that our fans love our brand and want to buy more Jamie Oliver products.
”We are now in the exciting phase of working with existing partners like Tefal to extend our offering as well as innovating in the frozen product and ambient food sectors with Jamie Oliver ranges.”
In terms of media, the year saw the production of an eight-part series Jamie’s One Pan Wonders, and a one-off Jamie’s £1 Wonders series response to the cost of living crisis.
Jamie Oliver’s One was published in September, with total book sales of two million to date.
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