Jamie Oliver Cafe and Cookery School opens at Oxford Street site

The flagship Jamie Oliver Cookery School and Jamie Oliver Cafe have officially opened their doors to customers for the first time at John Lewis Oxford Street. Spanning over 4,600 sq ft on the third floor of the store, the space includes two Cookery School classrooms and a 50-seat Jamie Oliver Cafe. The opening is in response to the growing demand from customers to combine shopping with eating and drinking, with hospitality sales in John Lewis up 6% over the last 12 months. Driving additional revenue, one in five transactions made in a John Lewis shop is now made in a cafe, or restaurant making it a key element of the retailer’s in-store strategy. Last year, the retailer’s own Place to Eat restaurants were visited by three quarters of a million more customers than the previous year. Five more cafe and restaurant openings are planned to take place this year taking the total space given to hospitality up by 11,000 sq ft by the end of the year and the total number of cafes and restaurants in John Lewis shops to 62. Building on its success in eight John Lewis shops, new Ori Caffes will be opened in Liverpool and Solihull stores later this year offering their Mediterranean style menu. Another cafe is planned to open in the Southampton store. As well as permanent fixtures, more seasonal pop ups will also appear in shops. Next month the ground floor of the Peter Jones atrium will be transformed with a pop up floral centerpiece wine bar, serving a selection of English wine to coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show. Katie Papakonstantinou, director of services and hospitality for John Lewis, said: “Opening the Jamie Oliver Cookery School and Cafe is a fantastic addition to our Oxford Street store. “Whether it’s a chance to ponder a purchase, or an escape from the bustle of the shop floor, having a varied and exciting assortment of hospitality offerings within our stores is vital for our customer experience. “It’s why we are continuing to invest in new offerings, and why by the end of the year we plan to have over 60 dedicated hospitality spaces across our 36 stores.” Ed Loftus, group restaurant director at the Jamie Oliver Group, added: “We are delighted to partner with John Lewis to bring our unique Cookery School to life in the flagship Oxford Street store. This is the next step in growing the footprint of the Jamie Oliver Cookery School across the UK and internationally. “Our Cookery School in Jamie Oliver HQ in North London has seen incredible growth since it first opened and even more importantly, we continue to receive incredible positive feedback from our customers. To see our sentiment scores continually high brings me total joy.” He continued: “Our cookery schools offer an incredible experience; we are all about unleashing your inner chef! We bring to life Jamie's no-nonsense approach to cooking, focusing on the experience... whether it's date night, a group of friends or team building.”