Summary:

Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain is on its way going bankrupt. Skynews reported that Jamie is calling in the administrators because the chain failed to stay afloat. Last year, the Mirror reported that the restaurant empire owed staff £2.2 million and was in £71.5 million of debt. Oliver blamed Brexit on the closure of six of his Jamie’s Italian branches. He said poor trading conditions, rising food and staffing costs, and a weakening pound. Restaurant consultant mentioned that Jamie’s demise can also be attributable to consumers abandoning the ‘middle market’ having realized they can get better quality food from (say) their local Italian or burger joint at the same price or less.

Vocabulary and sample sentences:

On the brink (of collapse) idiom. - a situation when you are almost in a new situation, usually a bad one

• I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown when I saw my credit card bill last month.

Closure n. - act of closing something / shut

• The closure of Jamie’s restaurant pushed Jamie to work harder.

Struggling adj. - striving to achieve something in face of difficulty

• Last month was a struggling period for me to pay rent.