GORDON RAMSAY is far from the only celebrity chef who has been cooking up something of a storm in the business world.

Jamie Oliver, known as The Naked Chef, is launching his latest venture, a chain of Italian restaurants, in May. The first will be in Oxford, with at least two more sites to follow this year.

Oliver part-owns a separate company, Fresh Retail Ventures, that markets a range of products carrying his name that have gone on sale in Tesco. He also has endorsement deals with cookware maker Tefal and Royal Worcester china.

Food ranges seem to be a popular way for star chefs to exploit their brands. Ainsley Harriott, for example, has a range of cup-a-soups and rice products.

Marco Pierre White, one of the country’s most respected chefs, has a stake in Conival, the AIM-listed company that sells food products he has endorsed. Last month the company said sales of its Glorious! Marco Pierre White chilled soups had exceeded management’s expectations and a range of desserts is being launched in Sainsbury’s next month.

Although several of White’s signature restaurants have been sold, he still takes an interest in the eating-out market. He and business partner Frankie Dettori, the jockey, have a chain of Italian eateries, including one in Dubai. White also has a gastro-pub, the Yew Tree Inn, in Berkshire.

Another successful chef-turned restaurateur is Antonio Carluccio, who with his wife, Priscilla, founded the chain of Italian cafes that bear his name. The business floated on the stock market in 2005 and has proved a hit with investors.

Books have also proved a fruitful venture. Delia Smith’s latest tome is the best-selling title on Amazon while Oliver’s Jamie At Home is No 2.

Neil Denny, editor-in-chief of The Bookseller, said books by celebrity chefs had “huge clout” at the till. “They provide a perfect storm of celebrity, television exposure and usefulness – and they make good gifts.”

Not all celebrity chefs have enjoyed the world of commerce. Tony Allan, who starred in a television series with fellow chef Giorgio Locatelli, has experienced the highs and lows of being in business. He scored a huge hit with London’s Bank restaurant, but the Fish! chain of seafood restaurants that floated did not go well, and the bulk of the business went into administration. In his autobiography, Allan bemoaned the fact that the creative side of the business took a back seat to dealing with the City. “Everything about the restaurants and what we were trying to achieve went out the window. It was all just results and dividends,” he wrote.

He has bounced back. Today he owns the original Fish! restaurant in London’s Borough Market and a combined fish-and-chip shop and fishmonger’s in Kingston, Surrey.

Another who has ridden the comeback trail is Jean-Christophe Novelli, whose dining empire extended to seven sites at one point. It was too much, too quickly, and the group collapsed. Today, like White, he is in the gastro-pub business. The Frenchman also runs a cooking academy, and, appropriately for a man once voted the world’s sexiest chef, sells a Novelli calendar – complete with recipe suggestions.

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