Friends of Fifteen Cornwall fundraiser to support staff who lost jobs following closure

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Deputy Editor

Following the sudden closure of fifteen in cornwall, a fundraising page has been set up to support the 100 staff who lost their jobs.

On Friday, we found out that the restaurant founded by Jamie Oliver - which survived the collapse of his restaurant empire that made more than 1,000 staff redundant earlier this year - would cease trading immediately following an independent financial review both the restaurant and charity.

A statement issued at the time said that "the boards have taken the necessary steps towards liquidating both companies and our nominated liquidators will communicate with creditors and all affected parties as soon as possible.

"As a charity and social enterprise restaurant we have welfare and safeguarding responsibilities which we are doing our utmost to resolve. We are talking with partners to find a way for the support for people we work with to continue, including those on the Fifteen training programme and Food for Change."

Upon hearing the news, Jamie Oliver told The Guardian: “I am very surprised and saddened to learn that Fifteen Cornwall and the Cornwall Food Foundation have closed. Both organisations have always been run separately from us but the team has done an amazing job with the trainee programme, training over 200 chefs and reaching so many more along the way – so this is a huge blow. My thoughts are with everyone affected.”

The Friends of Fifteen Cornwall Fundraiser aims to support the Cornwall restaurant staff through Christmas, with a fundraising objective of £10,000. At the time of writing this, the group has raised more than £3,500.

A statement on the fundraising page says that alongside the crowdfunder, the group has appealed for donations to the Cornwall Community Foundation, "to enable small emergency grants before Christmas to eligible staff."

The funds from this crowdfund, it says, "will be given to the Cornwall Community Foundation to assist with their fund and also be distributed by them in order to manage this in a cohesive process."

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