Jamie Oliver is not the first and won’t be the last company to have huge amounts of unpaid debts. If you hear of a company doing a Compang Voluntary Arangement (CVA) like Jamie’s Italian did, like many of the other casual dining chains have done in recent years and other retailers, they are all at it. Because landlords have been charging ever higher rents for years even though the High Street is dying.
Jamie Oliver is a twat though. I already disliked him, but now Vimto, Ribena and Lucozade (as well as others, they are just my favourites) have all been ruined by having sugar replaced with artificial sweetener. They all already had sugar free alternatives, these standard varieties with reduced sugar and sweetener mix are just wrong. People already had the choice of sugar or not. And the whole point of Lucozade is the sugar - hence the term “glucose drink” on the bottle.
The thing about junk food being on special offer more is because it is more processed to produce, it has “added value”, there is more profit margin with a higer price as a result, whereas fresh fruit, veg, meat, fish etc. Generally have much lower profit margins in the U.K. for retailers, so there is less ability for promotional activity on these products and to still keep them profitable. Often at Christmas you will hear of “veg wars” when the supermarkets all make their veg loss making by selling them very cheap - but the supermarkets then try push that loss on to suppliers, who are already struggling to make money. Milk is a prime example, it is underpriced in the U.K., many dairy farmers sell at a loss to supermarkets and large dairy companies, becuase they have greater power over the supplier and it is better to make a small loss than sell no product at all.