Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has unveiled a fifth site for his forthcoming neighbourhood restaurant chain Jamie's Italian, but has conceded that development problems have now pushed the timetable for the entire project back.
After announcing outlets in Oxford, Bath, Cambridge and Brighton last year exclusively to Caterer, Oliver has now added Kingston upon Thames in Surrey to his portfolio of development locations. The restaurant, which is scheduled to open towards the end of this year, will be housed in a former office block opposite the town's Rose Theatre.
However, Oliver has been faced with a series of delays to the openings of his restaurants because of hold-ups at the developments they are housed in, which have forced him to postpone the launches of the Cambridge and Brighton restaurants until 2009.
The restaurant in Bath, which was scheduled to open as the first in the group in March, has now been rescheduled to launch in late July, meaning the first Jamie's Italian will now open in Oxford at the end of next month.
Jamie's Italian will serve classic Italian food at affordable prices, inspired by the dishes in Oliver's cookbooks. The menu will offer a range of pasta dishes that will be freshly prepared on site as well as a selection of fresh breads, antipasti, salads, grills and Italian desserts. Pasta dishes will be priced between £5 and £8, with lunch costing about £10 a head including drinks.
"It's all about bringing my food to the public and offering them the best value for money they can get," Oliver said.
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By Kerstin Kuhn
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