Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver inspired home cooks across Britain with his ‘pukka tukka’ and now he wants to expand his profile internationally by opening up to 20 of his Italian restaurants around the world.

Oliver, 38, whose book, television and restaurant empire has made him an estimated fortune of £225 million (€263 million), recently unveiled plans to increase the number of his Italian restaurants overseas to 20 from four.

The international projects are in various stages but restaurants already announced this year in-clude one in Australia’s capital Canberra, in Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia, Istanbul in Turkey, Singapore and a second restaurant in Dubai.

He also has his sights set on restaurants in Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Oliver’s five-year-old restaurant chain has bolstered the wealth of the Essex-born chef, posting profits of £7.8 million (€9.3 million) in 2012, up 7.5 per cent from a year ago.

In Britain, the chain boasts 34 restaurants.

Oliver’s book and television work added another £2 million (€2.3) to his profits in the year ending December 30, 2012.

Oliver’s love of Italian food stemmed from his first job at Antonio Carluccio’s restaurant in London but it was London’s River Cafe restaurant in 1997 that set the charismatic young chef on the path to fame after he made an unscripted appearance in the TV documentary Christmas at the River Cafe.

His first TV show The Naked Chef was released the next year.

But the chef hit global stardom on the back of his quest for healthy school meals in Britain that earned him an MBE award from the Queen in 2003 and was expanded to the US with his TV programme Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

In September, Oliver will publish his 15th cookery book, Save with Jamie, focusing on low-cost meals, shopping techniques and using left-overs. A TV series will support the book. (Reuters)