Gordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall and currently holds eight. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, which he founded, has held three Michelin stars since 2001 and is currently run by chef Matt Abé. After rising to fame on the British television miniseries Boiling Point in 1999, Ramsay became one of the best-known and most influential chefs in the world.
Ramsay's media persona is defined by his fiery temper, aggressive behaviour, strict demeanour, and frequent use of profanity, while making blunt, critical, and controversial comments, including insults and sardonic wisecracks about contestants and their cooking abilities. He is known for presenting television programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as the British series Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, and The F Word, with Kitchen Nightmares winning the 2005 British Academy Television Award for Best Feature, and the American versions of Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, and MasterChef Junior, as well as Hotel Hell, Gordon Behind Bars, Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back, and Next Level Chef.
Ramsay was appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 New Year Honours list for services to the hospitality industry. He was named the top chef in the UK at the 2000 Catey Awards, and in July 2006 he won the Catey for Independent Restaurateur of the Year, becoming the third person to win three Catey Awards. Forbes listed his 2020 earnings at US $70 million and ranked him at No.19 on its list of the highest-earning celebrities.
Early life
Gordon James Ramsay was born in Johnstone, Scotland, on 8 November 1966, the son of Helen, a nurse, and Gordon James Sr., who worked as a swimming pool manager, welder, and shopkeeper. He has an older sister, a younger brother, and a younger sister. When he was nine years old, he moved with his family to England and grew up in the Bishopton area of Stratford-upon-Avon. He has described his early life as "hopelessly itinerant" and said his family moved constantly owing to the aspirations and failures of his father, who was an occasionally violent alcoholic; Ramsay described him as a "hard-drinking womaniser". In his autobiography, he revealed that Gordon James Sr. abused and neglected his children and his wife. He worked as a pot washer in a local Indian restaurant where his sister was a waitress. He had hoped to become a footballer and was first chosen to play under-14 football at the age of 12, but his early footballing career was marked by injuries; after a serious knee injury, he was forced to give it up. At the age of 16, he moved out of the family home and into a flat in Banbury.Early cooking career
Ramsay's interest in cooking began in his teenage years; rather than be known as "the football player with the gammy knee", he decided to pay more serious attention to his culinary education at age 19. Ramsay enrolled at North Oxfordshire Technical College, sponsored by the Rotarians, to study hotel management. He described his decision to enter catering college as "a complete accident".In the mid-1980s, Ramsay worked as a commis chef at the Wroxton House Hotel. He ran the kitchen and 60-seat dining room at the Wickham Arms until he quit after having sex with the owner's wife. Ramsay then moved to London, where he worked in a series of restaurants until being inspired to work for Marco Pierre White at Harveys.
After working at Harveys for two years and ten months, Ramsay, tired of "the rages and the bullying and violence", decided that the way to further advance his career was to study French cuisine. White discouraged Ramsay from taking a job in Paris, instead encouraging him to work for Albert Roux at Le Gavroche in Mayfair. Ramsay decided to take his advice, and there, Ramsay met Jean-Claude Breton, who later became his maître d'hôtel at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. After Ramsay worked at Le Gavroche for a year, Roux invited him to work with him at Hotel Diva, a ski resort in the French Alps, as his number two. From there, a 23-year-old Ramsay moved to Paris to work with Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon, both Michelin-starred chefs. He continued his training in France for three years, before giving in to the physical and mental stress of the kitchens and taking a year to work as a personal chef on the private yacht Idlewild, based in Bermuda. The role on the boat saw him travel to Sicily and Sardinia, Italy, and learn about Italian cuisine.
Head chef
Upon his return to London in 1993, Ramsay was offered the position of head chef, under chef-patron Pierre Koffmann, at the three-Michelin-starred La Tante Claire in Chelsea. Shortly thereafter, Marco Pierre White reentered his life, offering to set him up with a head chef position and 10% share in the Rossmore, owned by White's business partners. The restaurant was renamed Aubergine and won its first Michelin star 14 months later. In 1997, Aubergine won its second Michelin star. A dispute with Ramsay's business owners, who wanted to turn Aubergine into a chain, and Ramsay's dream of running his own restaurant led to his leaving the partnership in July 1998. He has described the decision to set out on his own as "the most important day of my entire cooking career; the most important decision of my life."In 1998, Ramsay opened his own restaurant in Chelsea, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, with the help of his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, and his former colleagues at Aubergine. The restaurant gained its third Michelin star in 2001, making Ramsay the first Scot to achieve that feat. In 2011, The Good Food Guide named Restaurant Gordon Ramsay the second best restaurant in the UK, behind The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire.
After establishing his first restaurant, Ramsay's empire expanded rapidly. He next opened Pétrus, then Amaryllis in Glasgow, and later Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. He hired his friend and maître d'hôtel Jean-Philippe Susilovic, who works at Pétrus and also appears on Ramsay's US television programme Hell's Kitchen. Restaurants at the Dubai Creek and Connaught hotels followed, the latter branded with his protegee Angela Hartnett's name. Ramsay has opened restaurants outside the UK, beginning with Verre in Dubai. Two restaurants, Gordon Ramsay at Conrad Tokyo and Cerise by Gordon Ramsay, both opened in Tokyo in 2005. In November 2006, Gordon Ramsay at the London opened in New York City, winning top newcomer in the city's coveted Zagat Survey, despite mixed reviews from professional critics.
In 2007, Ramsay opened his first restaurant in Ireland, Gordon Ramsay at Powerscourt, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Powerscourt, County Wicklow. This restaurant closed in 2013. In May 2008, he opened his first restaurant in the Western US, in The London West Hollywood Hotel on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. The contract expired in 2015, closing the restaurant.
On 9 August 2011, Ramsay opened his first Canadian restaurant, Laurier Gordon Ramsay in Montreal. In February 2012, Danny Lavy, the owner of the restaurant, announced the restaurant was disassociating itself from Ramsay, citing a lack of involvement and understanding on Ramsay's part. The restaurant closed in 2013.
Awards
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, located at Royal Hospital Road, London, was voted Top Restaurant in the UK in the London Zagat Survey in 2001 and was awarded its third Michelin star. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 New Year Honours list for services to the hospitality industry, but almost missed the award ceremony when his plane was delayed.In July 2006, Ramsay won the Catey award for "Independent Restaurateur of the Year," becoming only the third person to have won three Catey awards. Ramsay's two previous Catey awards were in 1995 and 2000. The other two triple-winners are Michel Roux and Jacquie Pern. In September 2006, he was named as the most influential person in the UK hospitality industry in the annual Caterersearch 100 list, published by Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine. He overtook Jamie Oliver, who had been top of the list in 2005. Also in 2006, Ramsay was nominated as a candidate for Rector of the University of St Andrews, but lost at the polls to Simon Pepper.
Ramsay's flagship restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, was voted London's top restaurant in Harden's for eight years, but in 2008 was placed below Pétrus, a restaurant run by former protégé Marcus Wareing. In January 2013, Ramsay was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame.
On 14 June 2017, Ramsay set a new Guinness World Record for the 'Fastest time to fillet a 10 lb fish', achieving the record in one minute and five seconds. On 16 August 2017, Ramsay set a 'Guinness World Record for the Longest Pasta Sheet Rolled in 60 Seconds', which measured 1.45 metres. In June 2022, he was recognised by the International Hospitality Institute as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality. On 11 May 2023, Ramsay along with Nick DiGiovanni set the Guinness World Record for the largest Beef Wellington. It came in at a weight of 25.76 kg. It also measured 2 ft 5 inches long by 13 inches wide and 8 inches tall.
Gordon Ramsay Holdings
All of Ramsay's business interests are held in the company Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited, which was run in partnership with his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, and incorporated on 29 October 1997. Ramsay owns a 69% stake, valued at £67 million in 2007. Whereas previous ventures acted as a combined consultant/brand, in November 2006 Ramsay announced plans to create three restaurants in the United States. These opened in 2006/2007 at the London Hotel in Manhattan, in October 2006, the Cielo in Boca Raton, Florida, and at the London Hotel in West Hollywood, California. Ramsay acts as a consultant to numerous catering organisations. In 2005 he was recruited by Singapore Airlines as one of its "International Culinary Panel" consultants.In late 2006, Gordon Ramsay Holdings purchased three London pubs, which were converted into gastropubs. These are: The Narrow in Limehouse, which opened in March 2007, the Devonshire in Chiswick, which opened in October 2007 and The Warrington in Maida Vale, which opened in February 2008. Both The Devonshire and The Warrington were sold in 2011. In May 2008, it was confirmed that Ramsay's protege of 15 years, Marcus Wareing, was going solo, having opened and operated Pétrus at The Berkeley Hotel on behalf of Gordon Ramsay Holdings since 2003. With the name Pétrus owned by Gordon Ramsay Holdings, industry sources suggested it was likely to transfer to another restaurant in the group with the former La Noisette site identified as the most likely. In April 2010, Jason Atherton, executive chef of Maze restaurants worldwide, resigned to open his own venue in Mayfair.
On 19 October 2010, the company Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited announced that Chris Hutcheson had left his position as CEO. Shortly afterwards, Ramsay released a letter to the press describing how he had unravelled the "manipulative" Hutcheson's "complex life" after having had him followed by a private detective. His father-in-law's "away days," wrote Ramsay, "were rarely what I thought they were." Company accounts show Hutcheson borrowed up to £1.5 million from Gordon Ramsay Holdings, though Hutcheson says he reported the borrowings to the company and paid the money back. Hutcheson said he had been "vaporised" and subjected to a "public hanging" by Ramsay, whom he described as a friendless egotist. In April 2017, Hutcheson pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to hack into the computers of Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited.
In October 2012, Ramsay opened The Fat Cow in Los Angeles at The Grove, a shopping area that is also popular with tourists. Ramsay explained his intention for the Fat Cow in a press release to signify the opening of the venue: "The concept for The Fat Cow came from my desire to have a neighbourhood restaurant that you could go to all the time to just relax and enjoy a terrific meal." The Fat Cow closed in 2014 amid legal issues. That year also saw the opening of Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas. The steakhouse concept has since expanded to other locations including the Horseshoe Casino Lake Charles, LA; Atlantic City, and Baltimore, with an announced location due in Vancouver in 2024.
In partnership with footballer David Beckham, Ramsay opened the Union Street Café in the Southwark district of London, UK in September 2013. The Italian cuisine of the Union Street Café, with a menu that revolved on a daily basis, was overseen by Chef Davide Degiovanni. The Union Street Café's location in Southwark was taken over in 2020–21 by two other Gordon Ramsay restaurants: Street Pizza, and Bread Street Kitchen & Bar. In December 2012, the Las Vegas opening of Gordon Ramsay Burger occurred. Other locations of the gourmet hamburger dining establishment would open up in the 2020s, Notably in Chicago, Boston, Seoul, and at Harrods Department Store in London.
In October 2013, the Gordon Ramsay at The London restaurant in New York lost its two Michelin stars owing to issues encountered by the Michelin reviewers. The guide's director Michael Ellis stated that he was served "some very erratic meals" and also experienced "issues with consistency." The loss followed the closure of another of Ramsay's restaurants, Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, in June 2013. In January 2018, Ramsay opened his first location of Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen restaurants, based on the television show. After that site opened on the Las Vegas Strip, six other locations have either been opened or announced, with one in Dubai and the others in the United States.
On 17 April 2018, Ramsay's first Street Pizza opened, situated in the downstairs area of his One New Change Bread Street Kitchen offering "bottomless" pizza. The second "Street Pizza" was opened at the chef's York and Albany restaurant, with further locations opening elsewhere later on in London, Dubai, and the USA. On 26 June 2019, Chloe Sorvino from Forbes magazine reported that Ramsay had struck a $100 million deal with Lion Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in London. Together they formed a subsidiary of the Gordon Ramsay Restaurant group, with Ramsay and Lion each taking 50% ownership, naming it Gordon Ramsay North America, and originally intended to open 100 restaurants in the USA by 2024. Those plans were slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic: in December 2021 GRNA CEO Norman Abdallah stated in a new interview that their updated strategy was to open 75 new company-owned locations across the United States between 2022 and 2026.
On 24 March 2020, Ramsay laid off more than 500 staff in the UK after several of Ramsay's restaurants closed temporarily due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. Ramsay, whose personal net income was estimated to be US$63 million in 2019 by Forbes, was criticised for the lay-offs.
On 3 December 2020, Ramsay's first Street Burger opened, in the St. Paul's area of London. In March 2021, Ramsay launched his own brand of California wines; produced in collaboration with Master Sommelier Chris Miller and International Wine Expert Nick Dumergue at Seabold Cellars in Monterey, California. The Gordon Ramsay Academy, a cookery school, opened in Woking, Surrey, in September 2021.
On 11 October 2023, Ramsay opened his first restaurant in Macao, Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill, at the new The Londoner Macao hotel and casino.
The Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill Philippines opened in Newport World Resorts in August 2024.