Opportunity

The Jamie Oliver Group, a global food company founded by renowned chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author Jamie Oliver, has long been committed to bringing joy to mealtimes through simple, accessible recipes. With a mission to inspire healthier choices and foster a healthier world through food, the brand has built an enthusiastic community. For over 25 years, jamieoliver.com has offered thousands of free recipes, creating a strong and loyal following.

As part of Jamie Oliver’s growth strategy, Zebra has partnered with their leadership team on a transformation project to extend their highly successful media business into retail. The challenge was twofold: maintaining the platform’s impressive organic traffic while introducing eCommerce in a way that felt seamless, fresh, and aligned with the brand’s mission. Given the organization’s limited technical and digital resources, any new system needed to function flawlessly, and we needed to help them find a reliable implementation partner to guide technology decisions.

Solution

Our approach centered on understanding the audience Jamie Oliver had cultivated and delivering content in a way that would both preserve their loyalty and inspire them to explore new, retail-driven offerings. Beginning with a thorough analysis of customer behavior—both on the Jamie Oliver platform and within the broader food sector—we mapped out demand, assessed relevant channels, and studied market dynamics to create a comprehensive commercial model. This model was designed to ensure not only a successful launch but sustainable growth.

To support technology needs we partnered with Studio Rotate, who played a crucial role in defining the technical roadmap. Together, we evaluated various technology options and associated costs, ultimately making strategic, evidence-backed recommendations. Our roadmap balanced a vision for long-term success with detailed action steps to avoid any perception of merely “dipping a toe” into retail.

Outcomes

Through our work, Jamie Oliver’s platform has been positioned for sustained success in retail:

• Organic traffic protected: successfully maintained and even grew organic traffic throughout the transformation.
• Organizational transformation: shifted Jamie Oliver’s focus from a media-first brand to a retail-ready mindset, equipped with the processes, insights, and resources to thrive.
• Established technology and partners: built a strong foundation of technology and partnerships to support Jamie Oliver’s ongoing retail journey.

"Working with Zebra has been game-changing for us. Their deep commercial insight and technical expertise has enabled us to successfully transition into retail with confidence. At every stage they’ve been able to support us with the right skills to empower our teams and drive data-led decisions. The impact of their work has been transformational."

Kevin Styles, CEO