Gordon Ramsey is in Hot Water (almost bankrupt)

[Scorbing]

SOURCE

Anyone hoping for the foul-mouthed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to get what's coming to him will have their wildest dreams come true. Ramsay's restaurant empire is in tatters, done in by ill-advised overexpansion, just as the economy was tanking.

The bellicose Brit's failure as a businessman is breathtaking to behold. "In the fall of 2008, his London-based Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd. breached the covenants on a ?10.5 million [$17 million] loan and overdraft facility from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.," according to Bloomberg News. "In late December, Ramsay says, KPMG recommended that the company declare bankruptcy, fire hundreds of people and close all but its best-performing restaurants."

An Empire Spread Too Thin

For the hotheaded TV star, though, bankruptcy was unthinkable -- which is a pity, because bankruptcy would have been the smartest business decision he could have made. Ramsay could have restructured his debts and perhaps figured out a way to extricate himself from the mess he had created.

But recession or no recession, Ramsay would have gotten into trouble because he had spread himself too thin, between his TV shows on two continents and his cookbook writing. As he repeatedly tells hapless restaurateurs on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, being a chef requires hard work and dedication. But he seems to have forgotten even that lesson: Critics say the quality of his food has slipped.

Ramsay has let his ego cloud his business judgment just when restaurant owners must think clearly: Many high-end establishments have struggled, and quite a few have closed. Imagine the viewer reaction if it was discovered that three restaurants Ramsay "saved" on Nightmares closed anyway. It would be as if a real-estate mogul with financial problems somehow convinced TV audiences to let wannabe businesspeople serve as his "apprentice."

On the Chopping Block: Ramsay and His Restaurants

Further hurting his reputation were allegations in the U.K. media of a seven-year extramarital affair. Adding insult to such injury, the Telegraph this year reported that Ramsay had exaggerated his youthful soccer exploits. And the chef is in hot water with tax authorities and behind in his payments to suppliers.

"In New York, he shut the 45-seat upmarket dining room at lunch to halve staff costs, removed flowers from the tables...and introduced a $40-a-head pre-theater menu to get more traffic through the door," according to the Daily Mail.

Recently, he sold the money-losing Gordon Ramsay At The London restaurant in New York. Bloomberg quotes Ramsay's father-in-law and business partner, Chris Hutcheson, as saying their company "didn't think locally" -- not realizing that booze-filled lunches went out of style in New York during the Reagan administration.

Ramsay unloaded his flagship Hollywood location, which still operates under the Gordon Ramsay name, earlier this year. While he retains "creative control' over such dishes as the $18 breakfast sandwich, not much of his empire remains. Seems as if the would-be restaurant entrepreneur is now living in his own private Hell's Kitchen.

[Liana]

Awww. I'm not really sure what he's like off camera so I don't really have an opinion as to whether I think he deserved this, but I know that a lot of people don't like him.

I love watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. I'll be sad if that show stops.

[Tech Star]

I love Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. This guy is brilliant and so awesome! He will find a way to get back, even if it means calling the bank teller a **** to get some money. :D

[Shadrack]

That sucks for Ramsay. Hope it isn't as bad as this article sensationalizes.

He's actually one of my favorite television personalities. He may seem really mean in the commercials for his shows, but it isn't so much as him being hot headed but instead giving the camera what it wants.

If you have ever seen his BBC show "F Word" (the F is such a clever pun), you see a very different side of Gordon Ramsey.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

This doesn't involve technology so...

[Thread Moved from BPN to RWN]

[andrew_f]

If you have ever seen his BBC show "F Word" (the F is such a clever pun), you see a very different side of Gordon Ramsey.

Channel 4*, but I'm presuming BBC show it in the US?

[Subject Delta]

I have never been a fan of the man, he is an arrogant jerk, and I won't really be sad to see him get brought down a couple of knotches

[Shadrack]

Channel 4*, but I'm presuming BBC show it in the US?

Ahh. In US it is aired on BBC America.

[Liana]

If you have ever seen his BBC show "F Word" (the F is such a clever pun), you see a very different side of Gordon Ramsey.

I agree, but I also don't find that show to be nearly as entertaining.

[Panacik]

I love the way he talks to others twice his size, although as a person i do feel he is arrogant and contradictory.

He has known for a long while now that his empire is falling and has continued to do his shows giving advise to failing chefs, without sorting out his own mess.

Although, i think once he closes his business' abroad and a few over in the UK, it will give him time to step away from the TV screen for a while and spend more time sorting out his business's.

Maybe he will do a Simon Cowel... Declair bankrupcy and then quietly start to build his empire again without making the same mistakes he made last time.

[FloatingFatMan]

99% of what you see on the TV screen is massively exaggerated for the camera anyway. No one could run a business with the level of abuse you see him give aspiring chefs on TV; UK working regulations would have had him for lunch YEARS ago for it.

That's he's mismanaged his businesses IS his own fault though. He's spent too much time becoming a celebrity and leaving the running of his restaurants to employee's, rather than keeping an eye on what's going on.

Kind of a shame about his New York restaurant though.. The executive chef at that place was one of the winners of Hell's Kitchen US...