Jamie Oliver is back on Instagram with a strange choice of message to break his week-long silence following his restaurant empire collapse.
Last week the celebrity chef emailed all restaurant staff to say he was "absolutely devastated" to be closing his restaurants, including his Jamie's Italian in Manchester on King Street.
He described the ailing high street, struggling casual dining sector and soaring business rates as a "storm [that] was just too great for us to overcome".
Around 1,000 staff are confirmed to have been made redundant, and three of the 25 restaurants shut with immediate effect, including King Street, according to the chain's insolvency practitioner KPMG.
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Returning to Instagram today, Oliver chose not to mention the state of his restaurants, yet decided to post an image of asparagus with a very minimalist caption of just four love heart emojis.
Some users responded with joy to his post, which has accumulated 26.5k likes. One user said: Good to have you back here <3" while another user said: "Gorgeous. Welcome back and MANY happy returns."
The post could be a nod to the father-of-five's new vegetarian cook book, which is currently half price in Waterstones on pre-order, before its release at the end of August.
A member of staff at the Manchester Jamie's Italian restaurant on King Street told the M.E.N there would be no redundancy payouts for staff, some of whom had been with the company 10 years.
