London - After closing several restaurantse, Jamie Oliver could use a bit of good publicity.
But the celebrity chef has come under fire after suddenly shutting two of his three Recipease cooking class shops, leaving many staff unemployed.
Some claim they were ordered to leave in the middle of the day with no warning, while one called the move “heartless and shameless”.
Another laid-off worker said she turned up to find the doors locked. Customers who had booked classes claimed they had not been told of the closures.
Oliver’s company shut the Clapham and Brighton stores last week, having opened them in 2009. A spokesman said the firm was “focusing energies” on its Notting Hill branch.
But one customer, who called the business to complain about a cancelled booking, says a despondent former employee admitted the stores were “making no money”. A part-time worker – who did not want to be named – said customers and staff were told to leave the Brighton premises immediately.
He told MailOnline: “They literally just came in at lunch, kicked out customers, shut the doors and ‘hey presto’. It was one lady from London head office… to be just sacked off just like that [is] shameful.”
He said he was offered a week’s wages, adding: “Very heartless… considering our loyalty and hard work towards the company.”
Customer Nick Phipps wrote on Twitter: “Email to say you’re closed four days before my course isn’t good enough! Hotel and time off work booked, now wasted.”
Becky Jacques sent a message directly to the celebrity chef’s Twitter account, saying: “Cancelled cooking lesson in Brighton this weekend = hen do disaster.”
A spokesman for Oliver’s firm confirmed staff were given no warning of the closures but said the company had “found alternative employment within the business for many of them”.
He added that customers would be reimbursed or have their classes moved to the Notting Hill site. - Daily Mail