TV chef Jamie Oliver wrongly sacked a Banbury couple who lost £200,000 of his money which he invested in an events catering firm they ran for him, a tribunal was told.

The celebrity chef joined forces with Glen and Susie Chadwick, of Berrymoor Road, Banbury, to set up Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts to provide upmarket food at prestigious venues and festivals.

Together with a business contact he invested a total of £500,000, but in less than a year the couple made a loss of £344,000.

The tribunal was told Mr Oliver, pictured right, decided to invest £200,000 in the new Fabulous Feasts venture because he wanted to break into world of events catering.

The Chadwicks – who he met through mutual business contact Nigel Harris – closed down their own Chilli Pepper food firm to set up Fabulous Feasts Limited. Mr Harris runs Fresh Direct in Bicester.

However, a tribunal in Reading heard the managing director and his wife, who had more than 20 years’ experience in catering, “lost control” of the firm, culminating in a “disastrous” event in Hyde Park. They lost their jobs on February 1.

Hopes had been high when Mr Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts was contracted to work at the London Winter Wonderland festival in Hyde Park. But out of more than 100 stalls the firm was the only one not to turn in a profit.

Mr Chadwick said he was convinced that business would have picked up in 2011 after the hard work the couple had invested in the previous year, had they not been sacked on February 1.

The tribunal was adjourned for the panel to consider its verdict which will be delivered as a reserved judgment in a month’s time.