Gino D'Acampo lands new job after shutting down his restaurant chain

Gino D’Acampo lands a new job after shutting down his debt-ridden chain of Italian restaurants and quitting his ITV show

Gino D’Acampo has landed a new job after a series of career setbacks.

It was recently reported that the TV chef, 46, had to shut down his chain of Italian restaurants went after it went bust with £5M debts, while liquidators are said to be probing his firm over alleged missing company books and the conduct of its major stakeholders.

Meanwhile, in March he sensationally quit ITV’s Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip   due to a row over ‘complicated’ contacts.

But now, things are looking up once more for Gino as he’s set to entertain and educate visitors at the Yorkshire Dales Food And Drink Festival next month.

The Italian will hold live cooking demonstrations and share his extensive knowledge at the festival, which takes place between 21st-23rd July at Funkirk Farm, Skipton.

 New opportunities: Gino D’Acampo has landed a new job after a series of career setbacks

Oh no: It was recently reported that the TV chef, 46, had to shut down his chain of Italian restaurants went after it went bust with £5M debts , while liquidators are said to be probing his firm over alleged missing company books and the conduct of its major stakeholders

Gino will be in good company over the weekend, as the Hairy Bikers and James Martin also joining the line-up.

While the likes of Gok Wan, Pat Sharp and a variety of tribute acts will be on hand to provide the musical entertainment. 

It comes as £150,000 investigation has been launched into why IRG (Old) WWR  – formerly Gino D’Acampo Worldwide Restaurants Ltd – ended up owing millions after being declared solvent last year.

Investigators will also probe why a creditor for Gino D’Acampo Ltd has recently appeared and is owed almost £5.4million from the company.

This Morning star Gino, who is understood to earn around £2million annually from television work, and his wife Jessica had their company declared solvent last April and two directors signed a declaration to say it had no creditors.

Liquidators are probing why the debt was not included in the original paperwork, the previous sale of the business, the whereabouts of company books and records, the conduct of major stakeholders and any other relevant issues. 

The major stakeholders are made up of Gino, who owns ten per cent, and IRG – who have an 85 per cent stake in the company. The other five per cent belongs to Mr Vernon Lord. 

The report states that the company’s statement of affairs indicated one creditor whose debts totalled £5,3888,075.22. They said they had receive a claim totalling £4,536,175.33 to date.

Fun times: Things are looking up once more for Gino as he’s set to entertain and educate visitors at the Yorkshire Dales Food And Drink Festival next month

Oh dear: Investigators will probe why a creditor for Gino D’Acampo Ltd has recently appeared and is owed almost £5.4million from the company. Pictured: One of Gino’s Italian restaurants

TV star: Gino also hosts Family Fortunes on ITV and is believed to earn around £2million a year from his television work

IRG is owned by Iceland founder Malcolm Walker and CEO Tarsem Dhaliwal. Gino has previously had a food range with the supermarket giant.

According to the report on Companies House, the liquidators estimate the probe will cost a total of £275,276. This is made up of administration costs, the realisation of assets, creditors and the £149,459 investigation itself.

It comes after Gino’s My Pasta Bar chain, which opened in 2012, went under last January after losing hundreds of thousands year on year until it reached breaking point.

At the time, it was reported that the Family Fortunes host’s chain owed HMRC £113,000 and another £37,000 in staff wages after the three London restaurants on Fleet Street, Leadenhall Market and Bishopsgate were forced to close.

Inspiration for the restaurant chain was taken from ‘Gino’s own experience of the fresh food markets of Naples’, while it also contained his ‘own breakfast rotolini pastries, authentic antipasti, salads, pastries, speciality breads and Italian desserts’.

His separate restaurant chain, named Gino D’Acampo My Restaurants with venues in Birmingham, Manchester, Harrogate, Leeds, Liverpool and Hull, was unaffected. 

In March, Gino revealed he has quit his popular ITV show Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip after three series.

The chef said that he was leaving due to a row over ‘complicated’ contacts.

The show saw the Italian TV favourite travel the globe with fellow foodies Gordon Ramsay and Fred Sirieix as they explore the local cuisine. 

Quit:  In March, Gino revealed he has quit his popular ITV show Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip after three series

Travels: The show saw the Italian TV favourite (left) travel the globe with fellow foodies Gordon Ramsay (centre) and Fred Sirieix (right) as they explore the local cuisine

Tricky: Gino said that his friendships with his former colleagues had nothing to do with his exit with their ‘strong’ bond meaning more to him than arguments over contracts

Gino said that his friendships with his former colleagues had nothing to do with his exit with their ‘strong’ bond meaning more to him than arguments over contracts. 

Telling his followers on Instagram: ‘Last week I decided not to film any more Gordon, Gino and Fred Road trips. The reason is very simple – nothing to do with Gordon or Fred, the friendship is very strong’. 

He continued: ‘It’s just because we can’t get the dates together and sometimes when we do get the dates together sometimes they get changed and it causes a lot of problems for me because I have other stuff that I have to do.

‘Personal problems as well because when I have to change things with my family it is very complicated and also because [of] contracts’.

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