Aramark and Jamie Oliver Group to launch first foodservice sites in months
Aramark and Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group will launch three sites under the celebrity chef's branding in a matter of months, chief executives from both companies have confirmed.
First revealed in April this year
Discussing their partnership at the Arena Autumn event in central London, Aramark chief executive and regional president for northern Europe Frank Gleeson confirmed the first sites to be born from the collaboration will be a university venture and two business dining concepts, one in the UK and one in Ireland.
He added that they would be launched "in ‘x' months", and did not clarify exactly how many.
All three concepts are set to open in pre-established partners for Aramark and use previously established Oliver brands. Gleeson said the exclusivity of the partnership had developed interest from many of the company's clients, and would likely bolster their offering in the future when bidding for contracts.
He said the new sites would serve as "three great pilots that we can then use to refine the offer and then sell off it.
"Because most people are waiting to see what this will look like in an education setting… what is it going to be? What is it going to be in a businesses dining location? So watch this space."
Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group chief executive Jon Knight expanded on the idea of developing new concepts for the foodservice offering - an idea first discussed when the partnership was announced earlier this year.
He added that it was possible fresh brands could then take root on the high street in a public offering if interest was piqued.
Knight added: "It's an evolution of where we want to take the restaurant group now. We were very dominant in the Italian sector, Italian still remains an absolutely critical sector for us and the industry, but we're also aware there are other new sectors coming in.
"There are new areas that we can move into and we can grow our audience. Jamie's got 6,000 recipes, why should I ever just think I can only pull off 600 of them?"
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