Jamie Oliver licensee Viva Foods is being wound up, after appointing liquidators in late August.
Now under the care of David Kirk and Daniel Jeeves of Exeter-based insolvency firm Kirks, the company will look to repay creditors as far as possible.
Viva Foods’ estimated shortfall to creditors will amount to £232k, according to liquidators’ estimates, including £32k owed to Jamie Oliver’s licensing company.
The company had originally been set up by chairman Henry Charteris in 2011 as a vehicle for licensed products bearing Oliver’s name, focused on Italian and Mediterranean foods.
Born out of a pre-pack administration of Charteris’ father’s importing business, Viva Foods worked with Italian manufacturers to supply Jamie Oliver-branded and private label products around the world.
Licensed products, which were still being listed online in 2025, included 10 SKUs of tomato-based pasta sauces, listed at £8 each for 400g on Viva Foods’ website, as well as pestos, premium pasta, vegetable spreads, oils, vinegars and antipasti.
“Viva Foods Ltd sources products to meet the Jamie Oliver brand guidelines and expectations of authentic premium quality Mediterranean foods at affordable prices,” said a description on Charteris’ LinkedIn.
“They are a full service supplier from the manufacturing plants to store throughout many territories around the globe.”
The company is not the first with Oliver’s name to fail, following the 2019 closure of 22 Jamie Oliver-branded restaurants in the UK.
Yet the TV chef’s licensed products have also seen success in recent years. Picking up listings in North America, including at 325 Walmart stores in early 2025, the Jamie Oliver Group has also pushed branded products on to shelves in the UK in Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
The Jamie Oliver Group declined to comment on Viva.
The Grocer has contacted Kirks for comment.
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