Jonathan Doughty is a global thought leader, consultant, speaker, moderator and C-suite executive in the foodservice and leisure sectors working around the world in retail, transit and leisure. In this issue, he speaks about the comeback of one of the biggest names in the industry.
As I write this, Europe is in the middle of football fever with Euro 2024, the Glastonbury Festival is making headlines for all the right reasons and British politics is also making headlines for all the wrong reasons. However they all have something in common, a streak running through them that is as easy to see as the nose on my face. What I am talking about is nostalgia!
We constantly seem to be talking about a time when we could effortlessly win football matches against our European rivals, a time when British elections were not about character assassinations and name calling and a time when many of the artists at Glastonbury were performing well before retirement age! There is something deliciously enjoyable about reminiscing about the past and remembering the “good old times”, even if they were not quite as good as we make them out to be.
Nostalgia is well and truly back on the agenda and as I have travelled around the world again this month, I have experienced this firsthand with a number of the new openings that I have been to in the world of restaurants. We just love to remember and go back to a point in time where everything was perfect and a number of chefs, restrateurs and operators have carefully crafted their offerings to play to this audience whilst still maintaining a new format launch vibe that gets the coverage that every new restaurant needs.
A really good example of this is the re-birth of Jamie Oliver and his eponymous restaurant group, Jamie Oliver Group. I don’t need to go over what happened as so many column inches have been written about the downfall of the Jamie’s Italian chain in the UK, the financial losses, the pain and the suffering felt by so many including the Oliver family themselves and the slow and careful rebuilding of the brand “Jamie Oliver” over the last two years. The opening of Jamie Oliver Catherine Street, in Covent Garden, was a triumph for the team and the company that knew they had to get it right. It is different, very different from what has come before but it is a gorgeous building, a great location and the menu is playful, hearty and fun to be with – featuring a number of “nostalgia moments” such as seafood cocktail, scotch eggs, scampi and chips and an amazing pork chop of gigantic proportions. I am not sure about all of the readers, but some of these menu icons go back to my childhood, my training in the industry and some of my favourite food moments. An excellent job in London, I hear you all say, but what about elsewhere?
“There is something deliciously enjoyable about reminiscing about the past and remembering the “good old times”, even if they were not quite as good as we make them out to be.”
A recent trip to Dubai took me to the ever-enthralling Dubai Mall which is as close to everything in the world of retail and food in one gigantic place. I had a choice and I chose to eat in the new Jamie’s Italian, as I wanted a relaxed and healthy salad lunch with some refreshing, cooling drinks. It was busy, full of happy people enjoying themselves and the food was competent. A nice design, brisk service and good food made sure we had a pleasant 90 minutes before scuttling off to do more of what you do in Dubai.
Three weeks later I found myself in Berlin, on a wet and steamy Tuesday evening with no particular place to go. I sent out a couple of messages and the wonderful guys at BMB Gruppe suggested I visit their new Jamie Oliver Kitchen. I rocked up to Friedrichstraße whilst the rain was pouring down, to find a packed restaurant, with an eclectic mix of guests. There was a kid’s party group, several tables of tourists and a lot of Berliners, all enjoying the rather relaxed environment and food that is all part of the Kitchen concept.
The menu features crispy fried squid, creamy burrata, tempura mushrooms, sticky apple pork (a little like Catherine Street) and the legendary Insanity burger. A nice choice of sides and other main courses combine to offer a beautifully rounded menu to guests along with an interesting and surprising wine list, a beautiful calm design and a caring and hard-working team. Opening restaurants anywhere in the world is tough, especially in these post-pandemic times of an absent labour market, but they did it and did it well. I found myself choosing the dishes that I used to enjoy as a young man, letting the nostalgia flow along with the Turkish wine, which was excellent.
This is one example, one personality but three different operating teams behind the three restaurants. Two are franchisees who have bought into the brand because they see a future, a strong future and good trading potential. Jamie Oliver is still an amazing force for good in our industry. During a 20-year television and publishing career he has sold over 46 million books worldwide and achieved an estimated global TV audience reach of 67 million across 182 territories. That is deeply impressive and I for one wish him every success, especially if he brings me a little closer to some of those dishes that I grew up with. Cheers!
