Jamie and Jools Oliver have once again demonstrated the time-honoured tradition of paying themselves first, pocketing a £1.7m dividend - a sum that, while 40% down on last year, is still enough to keep the pantry stocked with artisanal olive oil for quite some time. This comes as profits at their cookery and media empire nearly halved, proving that even celebrity chefs can't always have their cake and eat it.
Sales at Jamie Oliver Holdings remained broadly steady at £28.4m in 2025, a mere £160,000 shy of the previous year. The company's own restaurants, franchise business, cookery schools, and TV productions performed admirably, offsetting a decline in royalties, licensing, and endorsements. Because nothing says 'crisis' like a slight dip in the passive income from putting your name on a pan range.
'We have delivered new Jamie Oliver titles in both book and TV formats during the year and there has been a continued strong performance from back catalogue book titles and our international television content distribution,' the accounts filed at Companies House declared, in the kind of upbeat tone one might use to describe a soufflé that only collapsed a little bit.
The Eat Yourself Healthy cookbook was a No 1 global bestseller, selling nearly 70,000 copies in its first week, making it one of Jamie's fastest-selling books. Because nothing says 'healthy' like a book that sells 70,000 copies in seven days, presumably to people who then eat the book cover and call it a salad.
However, pre-tax profits at the group - which became a certified B Corp in 2019, because what's more socially responsible than a media empire? - slumped to £1.25m, from £2.4m a year before. This was after £1.46m of exceptional costs related to a business restructure in which about 20 jobs were lost from the Olivers' media team. Because streamlining is just a fancy word for 'we let some people go to keep the dividend flowing.' Profits were also affected by pre-opening costs on a new cookery school in John Lewis's Oxford Street outlet in London, because John Lewis is apparently now competing with Waitrose for the title of 'Most Middle-Class Place to Learn How to Boil an Egg.'
Sales at owned and operated restaurants rose 17% to £4.3m, and sales via the mainly overseas franchise restaurants - such as Jamie Oliver's Deli and Jamie Oliver Kitchen - rose 6.5% to £4m. Cookery school income soared 48% to £1.6m, proving that people will pay good money to be told to add a knob of butter. The group opened Jamie Oliver Catherine Street, his return to the UK restaurant scene with a menu focused on British produce, in 2023. Because nothing says 'British produce' like a restaurant that charges £18 for a bangers and mash.
Last December, Oliver also opened a new Jamie's Italian in London's Leicester Square, backed by the Prezzo owner Brava Hospitality Group, seven years after the chain collapsed. The original chain called in administrators in 2019, leaving £83m of debt and causing 1,000 job losses. But hey, second chances are all the rage, especially when they come with a side of 'we've learned our lesson' and a hefty dose of optimism. Brava's backers have suggested there could be scope for up to 40 more of the new restaurants in the UK, and one more is planned this year if the right site can be secured. Because if at first you don't succeed, fail again but with more locations.
A spokesperson for Oliver said 10 new franchise restaurants under his name were planned to open this year around the world, including one just opened in Abu Dhabi after openings in Bahrain and India. Because Jamie Oliver is apparently not just a chef; he's a fast-food franchise mogul with a global reach, spreading his gospel of 'pukka' food from the Gulf to the subcontinent.
However, royalties, licensing and endorsement income - which is by far the biggest part of the Oliver business and includes a Tefal pan range - slid by close to £2m to £15.9m. It was the second year of sliding income from this angle for Oliver, after a major deal with Tesco in 2023 ended in 2024. Because even celebrity chefs can't escape the chilling effect of a supermarket breakup, especially when your name is no longer on the shelves next to the ready meals.
This year, Oliver has launched a social media 'micro drama' involving short episodes of a 'comedy drama' to promote the Life360 family tracking app. Because what better way to promote a surveillance app than with a light-hearted comedy about, presumably, a family that can't find each other without GPS? It's a brave new world, and Jamie Oliver is in it, possibly trying to figure out where all the royalties went.