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Fifteen (restaurant)

Fifteen is a London, England restaurant founded by British chef Jamie Oliver in 2002. It gets its name from the fifteen disadvantaged, young people that Mr. Oliver trained to work in the restaurant. A television documentary, "Jamie's Kitchen," was made about the founding of the restaurant and the training of the young people.

As of 2009, the foundation that Mr. Oliver created to own and operate Fifteen has opened three addition "Fifteen" restaurants: one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2004); one in Watergate Bay (Cornwall), England (2006); and one in Melbourne, Australia (2006). All of these restaurants follow the model of the original by training disadvantaged, young people to work in them.

How It's Used

"Jamie Oliver has cottoned on to the docklands' cachet, establishing the Dutch outpost of his Fifteen restaurant in a choice riverfront location near by. His policy of employing former young offenders seems to chime with Dutch sensibilities - perhaps one of the earnest lads preparing my fig and Parma ham salad was an inmate of the Lloyd before its refit?"

"Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, the fashionable restaurant with a nice youth training and skills unit attached, has become a byword for successful social enterprise. The well-known documentary series that recorded its creation, and its inspiring attempts to transform the lives of a motley cohort of socially-excluded youngsters, made marvellous viewing. Five years on, Fifteen is turning over £4m a year and has successfully opened three other branches - in Cornwall, Melbourne and Amsterdam. The food business appears indisputably a success."

"Or there's Jamie Oliver's achingly hip restaurant Fifteen, above: a wide, high room overlooking the beach - done out with colourful murals and funky balloon lights - and a dozen chefs beavering away behind the counter. Its menu is quite River Café in style (Jamie began his career there) with char-grilled, balsamic-infused vegetables, Cornish cod saltimbocca and fabulous lamb with creamy cannelloni beans."

"Last year, an 18-course extravaganza enjoyed by world leaders at a Japanese summit to discuss food shortages unsurprisingly went down like a lead balloon on the political stage. So tomorrow night, Brown's guests are expected to tuck in to a more modest dinner. The six courses that Jamie Oliver has devised apparently comprise 'honest high-street products', and avoid costly 'fancy' ingredients. The precise details of what Oliver will rustle up at this 'pretty cool gig' (as he calls it on his website) remain a closely guarded secret (all we know is that pork will not be served).

"Perhaps there's a clue in the fact that his 40-strong team on the night will include staff from his restaurant Fifteen."

"In addition to TV specials like 'Jamie's Fowl Dinners' and 'Jamie Saves Our Bacon' (exposing the state of the British poultry and pork industries, respectively), Oliver got personal with his series 'Jamie's Kitchen,' based on the Fifteen Foundation, which he created in 2002. Each year it sponsors 15 (give or take a few) young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those with criminal records or a history of drug abuse, and trains them in the restaurant business. To kick-start the program and to finance Fifteen, the upscale London restaurant that would employ them, he put up his own house as collateral -- without telling his wife. In addition to the London flagship, whose customers have included Brad Pitt and Bill Clinton, branches of the restaurant have opened in Cornwall, Amsterdam and Melbourne. So far, the program has graduated 159 students at a cost of $49,500 each. Oliver endowed the foundation with proceeds from his book 'Cook With Jamie,' and it now operates as an independent entity."

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