Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his wife, Jools, have paid themselves £2.5m in dividends for the second year in a row as pre-tax profits at their core media and restaurant empire slumped.

Pre-tax profits at Jamie Oliver Holdings (JOH) fell by £1m to £2.4m last year. This was despite a 6% rise in sales to £28.6m, helped by a surge in restaurant income after the November 2023 opening of his first directly run restaurant since the collapse of his empire of 22 Jamie’s Italian UK outlets in 2019.

JOH includes Oliver’s media interests, such as TV production, books, endorsements, his cookery school and restaurant, as well as franchise income from the overseas restaurants that still bear his name, fees for promoting the supermarket Tesco, and royalties from products bearing his name.

His latest book, Eat Yourself Healthy, is currently the UK’s bestselling cookery book, and the chef is also involved in charitable efforts with his Ministry of Food foundation now teaching cooking in 1,150 secondary schools.

The group, which became a certified B Corp in 2019 in recognition of its ethical efforts, was run by chief executive Kevin Styles for more than two years until December last year. No replacement has been appointed and the company is now run by its operating board.

The dividends relate to the family’s wider interests, which also include a further licensing business for which detailed accounts are not available.

Income from directly owned and operated restaurants jumped to £3.6m in 2024, from £335,983 in 2023, while franchise income from overseas restaurants including Jamie’s Italian and Jamie’s Deli, rose to £3.8m from £3.6m.

That was despite a tough environment for the hospitality industry in recent years amid rising costs and a shift away from dining out as households try to deal with high bills including for energy and groceries.

Sales at the chef’s cookery school also remained steady at about £1m before the opening of a new school inside John Lewis’s Oxford Street store earlier this year.

However, income from royalties, endorsements, licences and TV production fell by 10% to £19.8m – falling back after a major deal with Tesco in 2023 ended last year.

A spokesperson for the Jamie Oliver group said it was opening 12 new restaurants internationally this year, including the first outlets in Oman and Greece, and had tripled its capacity for the cookery school with the John Lewis opening, which was performing ahead of target.

John Lewis has said it wants to open more cookery schools with Oliver, but no firm plans have been announced.