Chef and author Jamie Oliver has got a number of accolades to his name, however, 2017 hasn’t been quite worked in favour of the 42-year-old. After witnessing a decline in sales at a number of Jamie’s Italian outlets in January and shuttering the last branch of Union Jacks pizza chain in March, Oliver is now pulling the plug on his Jamie Magazine. That Gordon Ramsay expressed dismay over the chef’s comments has not made the situation any better.

The End of an Era?

Jamie Magazine started circulating in 2008 and reached its peak in 2009 with over 75,000 copies sold, only to dwindle to 47,000 by this year. This in comparison to huge number attained by competitors like Sainsbury’s Magazine on 166,000 and BBC Good Food magazine on 186,000. According to industry insiders, the magazine was failing to attract enough advertisers to make it profitable, reports Daily Mail Online.

“We are incredibly proud of Jamie Magazine, which won International Consumer Media Brand of the Year in 2015, and our hugely talented editorial staff”, a spokesperson for Jamie Oliver Group said adding, “we’ve conducted extensive research into our audience needs and while Jamie’s books are more popular than ever – 5 Ingredients Quick & Easy Food is the fastest selling Jamie book – our audience is increasingly also looking to digital platforms to find content.”

Image: Jamie Oliver

So does this mean that we’ll be devoid of Oliver’s amazing recipes? Of course not! It’s the era of the Internet and the chef has an entire website to his name (literally), that we can head to for a recipe or two. The magazine too has its own website called jamiemagazine.com.

“With thousands of recipes now available online, jamieoliver.com takes the essence of the magazine – tried and tested recipes that always work, together with full nutritional information to help our audience make better food choices”, the spokesperson added.

Feature Image: Jamie Oliver