Ed Loftus on bringing Jamie's Italian back to the UK, scaling Jamie Oliver Group to 80+ sites in 24 countries, and the discipline behind a real second act. Very few people in UK hospitality ever get to attempt a real second act. Jamie Oliver Group has just done it: Jamie's Italian back in Leicester Square in March 2026, seven years after the 2019 administration that closed the UK estate. The man who's been at the company through all of it (nearly 15 years, employee number one of the post-2019 strategy) is Ed Loftus, Global Director of Jamie Oliver Restaurants. In this episode he walks Conor through what it actually took to get here: building globally first (80+ sites, 24 countries, 7 brand formats), the franchise-first pivot, the partnership architecture behind the UK return (Brava Hospitality Group with Cain International), and a 30% smaller menu doubling down on fresh pasta made on premises every day. Plus 16 global partners, a head office that's banned PDFs, why "my Jamie is not your Jamie" matters when scaling a celebrity-chef brand, the John Lewis Cookery School partnership, and Ed's frank case that "people" is the operational metric most operators ignore. KEY TAKEAWAYS A good brand doesn't necessarily make a good business. The 2019 UK administration wasn't a demand problem, it was a flexibility-and-capital problemBuild globally first, then come back home. Jamie Oliver Group spent six years proving the model in 24 countries before relaunching in the UKFranchising is a marriage. Partner selection is the single most important decision; the right partners weather macro shocks togetherSimplicity scales. Complexity does not. The technology backbone (digital intranet, no PDFs, LMS, sentiment) starts from that principleDon't recreate the past. When a brand returns to market after a setback, the question isn't what to bring back, it's how the strongest attributes should show up in today's market CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: what a genuine second act looks like in hospitality 2:43 Welcome, Ed 3:12 From chef to global director: 15 years across kitchens, multi-site, commercial 6:42 The scale today: 80+ sites, 24 countries, 7 brand formats 7:32 Reading the 2019 administration: not demand, but flexibility and capital 10:35 Why he stayed: Jamie himself, the brand, and a challenge worth taking 11:16 Post-2019 strategy: franchise-first, employee number one, building a team 14:54 Localising a celebrity-chef brand without losing the DNA 18:05 The technology backbone: digital SOPs, LMS, sentiment, no PDFs 20:33 Franchising as a marriage: partner selection is everything 22:18 The UK return: how the Brava Hospitality Group partnership came together 25:18 What's different at the new Jamie's Italian: design, menu, fresh pasta 29:23 Multi-zoned spaces and the modern casual-dining environment 31:16 Building experiences outside the venue: John Lewis Cookery School 34:00 Working with Jamie: a creative force who lived the kitchens 37:20 What a week in the global director's life looks like 39:24 The 200-site ambition and what has to go right 40:43 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions 45:29 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Ed Loftus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edloftus/Jamie Oliver Group: https://www.jamieolivergroup.com/Jamie's Italian: https://jamiesitalian.co.uk/Brava Hospitality Group: https://www.bravahospitalitygroup.com/Cain International: https://cainint.com/John Lewis Cookery School with Jamie: https://www.johnlewis.com/our-services/jamie-oliver-cooking-school CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/
