Hospitality Case Study - BOM(1)

8/13/2019 Hospitality Case Study - BOM(1)

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Hospitality Case Study BOM

Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay was born on 8 November 1966 in Scotland, United Kingdom. He is

a restaurateur, celebrity chef and television personality. He has been awarded 15Michelin stars in total and currently holds 14.

Cooking Career

At age 19, Ramsay enrolled at North Oxfordshire Technical College to study HotelManagement. He describes his decision to enter catering college as "an accident, acomplete accident".

In the early 1980s, he worked as a commis chef at the Wroxton House Hotel thenran the kitchen and 60-seat dining room at the Wickham Arms, until his sexual

relationship with the owner's wife made the situation difficult. Ramsay then moved toLondon, where he worked in a series of restaurants until being inspired to work forthe temperamental Marco Pierre White at Harvey's.

After working at Harveys for two years and ten months, Ramsay, tired of "the ragesand the bullying and violence", decided that the way to further advance his careerwas 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. (While atLe Gavroche, he met Jean-Claude Breton, now his matre d' at Royal HospitalRoad.)

After working at Le Gavroche for a year, Albert Roux invited Ramsay to work withhim at Hotel Diva, a ski resort in the French Alps, as his number two. From there,Ramsay moved to Paris to work with Guy Savoy and Jol Robuchon, both Michelin-starred chefs. He continued his training in France for three years, before giving in tothe physical and mental stress of the kitchens and taking a year to work as apersonal chef on the private yacht Idlewild, based in Bermuda.

Upon his return to London in 1993, Ramsay was offered the position of head chef atLa Tante Claire in Chelsea. Shortly thereafter, Marco Pierre White re-entered 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 renamedAubergine andwent on to win its first Michelin star fourteen months later. In 1997, Aubergine won itssecond Michelin star. Despite the restaurant's success, a dispute with Ramsay'sbusiness owners and Ramsay's dream of running his own restaurant led to hisleaving the partnership in 1997. In 1998, Ramsay opened his own restaurant inChelsea, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, with the help of his father-in-law, ChrisHutcheson. The restaurant gained its third Michelin star in 2001, making Ramsay thefirst Scot to achieve that feat.

From his first restaurant, Ramsay's empire has expanded rapidly, next openingPetrus, where six bankers famously spent over 44,000 on wine during a single meal

in 2001,]

then Amaryllis in Glasgow (which he was later forced to close) and laterGordon Ramsay at Claridge's. Restaurants at the Dubai Creek and Connaught
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubergine_(London_restaurant)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay#cite_note-Bankers_.27sacked.27_over_.C2.A344.2C000_meal-26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay#cite_note-Bankers_.27sacked.27_over_.C2.A344.2C000_meal-26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay#cite_note-Bankers_.27sacked.27_over_.C2.A344.2C000_meal-26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay#cite_note-Bankers_.27sacked.27_over_.C2.A344.2C000_meal-26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubergine_(London_restaurant)


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hotels followed, the latter branded with his protg Angela Hartnett's name. Ramsayhas opened restaurants outside the UK, beginning with Verre in Dubai. GordonRamsay at Conrad Tokyo and Cerise by Gordon Ramsay both opened in Tokyo in2005, and in November 2006, Gordon Ramsay at the London opened in New YorkCity, winning top newcomer in the citys coveted Zagat guide, despite mixed reviews

from professional critics.

In 2007, Ramsay opened his first restaurant in Ireland, Gordon Ramsay atPowerscourt, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow. In May 2008 heopened his first restaurant on the US west coastBoxwood, in The London WestHollywood hotel, formerly the Bel-Age hotel on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.On 9 August 2011 Ramsay opened his first Canadian restaurant in MontrealLaurier Gordon Ramsay, formerly Rotisserie Laurier BBQ. However, in February2012 Danny Lavy the owner of the restaurant announced the restaurant wasdisassociating itself from Ramsay, citing a lack of involvement and understanding onRamsay's part.

Awards

Opened in 1998, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay was Ramsays first solo restaurant,located at Royal Hospital Road, London. In 2001, it was voted Top Restaurant in theU.K. in the London Zagat Survey and was awarded its third Michelin star, makingGordon Ramsay the first Scottish chef to have ever won three Michelin stars.

Ramsay is one of only four chefs in the UK to maintain three Michelin Stars for hisrestaurant (the others being Heston Blumenthal, Alain Ducasse and Alain Roux).

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from QueenElizabeth II in the 2006 honours list for services to the hospitality industry, but almostmissed the award when his plane was delayed.

In July 2006, Ramsay won the Catey award for "Independent Restaurateur of theYear", becoming only the third person to have won three Catey awards, the biggestawards of the UK hospitality industry. Ramsay's two previous Catey awards were in1995 (Newcomer of the Year) and 2000 (Chef of the Year). The other two triple-winners are Michel Roux, and Jacquie Pern.

In September 2006, he was named as the most influential person in the UKhospitality industry in the annual Caterersearch 100 list, published by Caterer andHotelkeepermagazine. He overtook Jamie Oliver, who had been top of the list in2005.

Also in 2006, Ramsay was nominated as a candidate for Rector of the University ofSt Andrews, but was beaten at the polls by Simon Pepper. Despite a publicitycampaign, Ramsay never visited St Andrews and did not appear in press interviews.Ramsay's flagship restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, was voted London's toprestaurant in food bible Harden'sfor eight years, but in 2008 was placed belowPetrus, a restaurant run by former protg MarcusWareing.


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Gordon Ramsay Holdings

All of Ramsay's business interests (restaurants, media, consultancy) are held in thecompany Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited. Run in partnership with his father-in-lawChris Hutcheson, Ramsay owns a 69% stake valued at 67million.

Whereas previous ventures acted as a combined consultant/brand, in November2006 Ramsay announced plans to create three restaurants in the United States inpartnership with private equity firm Blackstone Group, who are refurbishing each ofthe chosen hotels into five star locations at a cost of 100million per hotel. At aninvestment of 3million per restaurant for the 10-year lease, all the restaurants offerthe chefs trademark modern European cuisine, and opened in 2006/2007 at:

Gordon Ramsay at the London Hotel in Manhattan, New York, October 2006 Gordon Ramsay at the Cielo in Boca Raton, Florida Gordon Ramsay at the London Hotel in West Hollywood, California Gordon Ramsay at the Mirabelle in London

In late 2006 Gordon Ramsay Holdings purchased three Londonpubs which heconverted into gastropubs. These are: The Narrow in Limehouse, which opened inMarch 2007, the Devonshire in Chiswick, which opened in October of that year andThe Warrington in Maida Vale, which opened in February 2008. Both TheDevonshire and The Warrington were subsequently sold in 2011, leaving TheNarrow as the sole pub in GRH's portfolio.

Ramsay acts as a consultant to numerous catering organisations, and was recruitedby Singapore Airlines as one of its "International Culinary Panel" consultants.

In May 2008 it was confirmed that Ramsay's protg of 15 years, Marcus Wareingwas going solo having opened and operated Ptrus at The Berkeley Hotel on behalfof Gordon Ramsay Holdings since 2003. With the name Ptrus owned by GordonRamsay Holdings, industry sources suggested it was likely to transfer to anotherrestaurant in the group with the former La Noisette site identified as the most likely.

As of June 2009, Gordon Ramsay Holdings was reported to be in severe financialdifficulty after a financial audit by accounting firm KPMG

.

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 announcedthat Chris Hutcheson had left his position as CEO of Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd.

Shortly after, Ramsay released a letter to the press describing how he hadunravelled the "manipulative" Hutcheson's "complex life" after having him followed bya private detective. His father-in-law's "away days," wrote Ramsay, "were rarely whatI thought they were." Company accounts show Hutcheson borrowed up to1.5million from Gordon Ramsay Holdings, of which he was chief executive, thoughhe 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" byRamsay, whom he described as a friendless egotist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pubhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub


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Television

Ramsay is known for presenting TV programmes about competitive cookery andfood, such as the British series Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, Ramsay's BestRestaurant, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon's Great Escape, Gordon Behind

Barsand Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, along with the Americanversions of Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChefand Hotel Hell.

Public Image

Ramsay has become infamous for his fiery temper and use of expletives. Ramsayhas had confrontations with his kitchen staff, including one incident that resulted inthe pastry chef calling the police.

A 2005 interview claimed Ramsay had retained 85% of his staff since 1993.Ramsay attributes his pugnacious management style to the influence of previous

mentors, notably chefs Marco Pierre White and Guy Savoy, father-in-law ChrisHutcheson, and Jock Wallace, his manager while a footballer at Rangers.

Ramsay's ferocious temper has contributed to his media appeal in both the UnitedKingdom and the United States, where his programmes are produced.

His fierce personality ensured that he was voted television's most terrifying celebrityin a Radio Timespoll consisting of 3,000 people. MSN Careers featured an articleabout television's worst bosses, which listed Ramsay as the only non-fictional boss.They cited his frequent loss of his temper and his harsh critiques, notably when hepicks on something other than one's cooking abilities, such as calling someone a"chunky monkey." He maintains that such behaviour within the kitchen is necessary.

Charity work

Ramsay has been involved in a series of charitable events and organisations. Hefulfilled his aim of finishing 10 marathons in ten years by running his 10thconsecutive London Marathon on 26 April 2009, sponsoring the Scottish Spina BifidaAssociation.

Ramsay has been Honorary Patron of the Scottish Spina Bifida Association since

2004, and in 2005 he launched The Gordon Ramsay "Buy a Brick" appeal to help theorganisation raise funds to build a new Family Support Centre and Head Office inGlasgow. In 2006 he launched a new Appeal to help the charity raise the fundsrequired to continue to run the support centre "What's your favourite F Word,Gordon's is Fundraising". In November 2007 Ramsay hosted a St Andrew's DayGala Dinner at Stirling Castle in aid of the Association and has now made thisfundraising Gala Dinner an annual event.

During March 2005 Ramsay teamed up with Indian chefMadhur Jaffrey to help theVSO, an international development charity group to support its Spice Up Your Lifeevent. The charity hoped to raise 100,000 for VSOs work in HIV and AIDS in India.

The Ramsays were the first couple to become ambassadors for the women's charityWomen's Aid in 2005. The couple ran the Flora Families marathon

to support
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhur_Jaffreyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhur_Jaffrey


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Pre-prepared meal controversy

On 17 April 2009 it was revealed that Ramsay's restaurant, Foxtrot Oscar inChelsea, West London, used pre-prepared food that was heated up and sold withmark-ups of up to 586%. It was also revealed that three of his gastropubs in London

did the same thing. A spokeswoman for Gordon Ramsay explained, "GordonRamsay chefs prepare components of dishes devised and produced to the highestGordon Ramsay standards. These are supplied to those kitchens with limitedcooking space such as Foxtrot Oscar and Gordon Ramsay's highly-acclaimed pubs,including the Narrow. These are sealed and transported daily in refrigerated vansand all menu dishes are then cooked in the individual kitchens. This is only for thesupply of Foxtrot Oscar and the three pubs and allows each establishment to controlthe consistency and the quality of the food served." Reflecting on the controversy in2010, Ramsay was unapologetic, stating:"When I was working at the Gavroche all those years ago, the duck terrine wasntmade there. It was made outside, then brought to the restaurant wrapped in plastic.

This is standard practice. What on earth was the fuss about?" [

http://www.gordonramsay.com
http://www.gordonramsay.com/http://www.gordonramsay.com/

Hospitality Case Study - BOM(1)

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