Former Jamie Oliver CEO Jon Knight joins the Restaurant Group

Jon Knight, former chief executive of the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, has joined the Restaurant Group (TRG), which operates brands including Wagamama and Frankie & Benny's.

He joins the company in the role of managing director of leisure and concessions

A spokesperson for the Restaurant Group (TRG) said: "TRG has taken the decision to combine the operations of the Leisure division and the Concessions operations under the leadership of Mark Chambers.

"Jonathan Knight is reporting to Mark and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the units across the newly combined leisure and concessions operations. Nick Ayerst left the business two weeks ago and TRG thanks him sincerely for his very considerable contributions over 14 years at the company."

Knight was appointed chief executive of the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group in January 2017. He led the business through a company voluntary arrangement in 2018, however this ultimately failed to prevent it falling into administration in May 2019.

Last month TRG raised £57m through a share placing aimed to provide the company with "sufficient" liquidity to continue to operate through the coronavirus crisis.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the group issued a "pessimistic scenario for the current financial year", which assumed all restaurants and pubs will remain closed until the end of June and with the possibility that only 400 of its 600 sites will reopen this year.