Source: Wealth Creator Magazine Nov/Dec 2006

Jamie Says

  • “All I ever wanted to do was to make food accessible to everyone; to show that you can make mistakes – I do all the time – but it doesn’t matter.”

 

  • “Many kids can tell you about drugs but do not know what celery or courgettes taste like.”

 

  • “As soon as I was old enough to peer over the worktops, I remember being fascinated by what went on in the kitchen. It just seemed such a cool place, everyone working together to make this lovely stuff and having a laugh doing it.”
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Jamie Oliver: Fifteen's Naked Chefs

Source: Wealth Creator Magazine Nov/Dec 2006

Jamie Oliver: The facts

  • Jamie’s advertising deal with supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s is reported to have netted him around £1.2m annually.
  • In the first two years these advertisements are estimated to have given Sainsbury’s an extra £1billion of sales or £200 million gross profit.
  • In February 2002 the BBC broke off contract negotiations with Oliver after failing to come to terms.
  • Reports suggested that the corporation was unhappy with his increasing association with Sainsbury’s.
  • The proposed series called Oliver’s Army, where he would train 16 unemployed young people to cook, was cancelled. Channel 4 quickly seized the moment and produced the series, known as Jamie’s Kitchen.
  • In Australia Jamie Oliver also promoted Yalumba wine in a series of advertisements.
  • Jamie Oliver suffers from dyslexia.
  • In June 2003, he was awarded an MBE.

Jamie Oliver: Fifteen's Naked Chefs

James Packer etc Some love him, some loathe him, but whatever you think about Jamie Oliver’s cooking or personality, there is no doubting his entrepreneurial skills or his social conscience. Astrid Lawton takes a look at his most ‘pucker’ career.

People Magazine’s ‘sexiest chef’ grew up in the kitchen of ‘The Cricketers’ – the family pub in Clavering, Essex, where he developed his knack for cooking. He would sneak into the kitchen at age seven and mess around with the pots and pans while his mum was looking the other way. He struggled academically at Newport Free Grammar School, and left at age 16 to attend the Westminster Catering College. It was in 1996 that the then 21-year-old, soon-to-be Naked Chef, was discovered while working (fully clothed) at The River Café in London, filming a documentary titled Christmas at The River Café. Patricia Llewellyn of Two Fat Ladies fame knew that his good looks, boyish charm, and general chumminess, coupled with his passion for cooking, would translate brilliantly to the TV screen and strike a chord with viewers, so she signed him immediately to film the first of the very successful series The Naked Chef, in 1998.
Season two of The Naked Chef was filmed in 1999, and cemented Jamie’s celebrity in the United Kingdom. Viewers loved his very simple, ‘naked’, approach to cooking, and the somewhat sassy and streetwise way in which he presented himself. Next came Return of the Naked Chef, Happy Days with the Naked Chef, Jamie’s Kitchen, Oliver’s Twist, Jamie’s School Dinners, Jamie’s Great Italian Escape, and Jamie’s Return to School Dinners – all hugely successful series, with hugely successful accompanying cook books, which sell an average of 2.5 million copies per year.

The naked millionaire

In 2002, and well on his way to becoming a multi-millionaire by 27, Jamie turned to help those less fortunate. Proof himself that academic qualifications are no indication of skill, the Fifteen venture saw Jamie instil passion for food (and work) into fifteen disadvantaged guys and girls, who were given the chance to train as chefs in Jamie’s Fifteen restaurant. The first Fifteen started out shakily, losing rather than making money, and being pronounced ‘amateurish and overpriced’ by one reviewer. But things soon turned around, and now Fifteen boasts restaurants in London, Cornwall, Amsterdam, and the new venture in Melbourne – the latter of which is booked out until early 2007.

As well as his TV shows, books, and restaurants, the seemingly ‘Jamie Everywhere’ signed a £2.4 million promotional contract with the UK supermarket chain Sainsburys, and also designed, in conjunction with Tefal, the Jamie Oliver Professional Series Cookware. The Tefal series includes the delightfully named Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker, which ‘crushes, grinds, blends, mixes and more!’ – and also adds a bit of fun and flavour into the kitchen. The product has become a phrase that seems to follow Jamie wherever he goes.

Social conscience

Apart from the fact that his supermarket endorsement had him labelled a ‘whore’ by fellow chefs, and there was more than one mention of him having ‘sold his soul’, the only controversy at all that has touched this boy wonder is his Jamie’s School Dinners program. In this, he attempted to overhaul the kitchens of schools across the UK, introducing fresh fruit and vegetables, and eradicating processed junk foods that had become the staple diets of school children. After making many newspaper headlines (and angering some parents, who then barged down to the school and delivered unhealthy lunch orders over the fence to children who refused to eat Jamie’s healthy dinners), and delivering a 300,000 signature petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair, the UK government allocated £280 million for proper training and equipment, and proper fresh ingredients to prepare school dinners. But, as Jamie, the father of two small daughters himself says, “they may have won this battle, but there is still a war to be fought.”

For now, Jamie’s focus seems to be solely on philanthropy. The proceeds from his latest book, Cook with Jamie, will all go to the Fifteen Foundation in order that it continue growing, according to the website, ‘into a global social enterprise brand inspiring young people all over the world.’ And it seems that Jamie himself, multimillionaire, successful chef, TV personality, designer, spokesperson, father and husband, all by the age of 30, is an inspiration to young people all over the world too.