Say what you like about the sweary, suspiciously blonde chef-entrepreneur Gordon Ramsay – and people have been known to do so – but there’s no denying both the longevity and apparent success of Britain’s best-known restaurateur. Thanks to a television career that has lasted since the late 90s, the image of Ramsay as a hard taskmaster has only been strengthened by such shows as Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and (the amusingly named) Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine. He bestrides the international dining scene like a particularly vigorous Colossus, offering punters everything from three Michelin-starred meals (at commensurate prices) to burgers and chips. In other words, Ramsay is all things to all men, and a great British success story.
This is the PR spiel, but it has taken something of a battering in recent years. Figures announced recently reveal that Ramsay’s Union Street Café Limited – the company that operates his British restaurants – declared a pre-tax loss last year of £15.5 million, resulting in the closure of restaurants and 200 jobs being cut from the Ramsay workforce. It is a symbol of hubris being undone by reality that the notorious £85 Wagyu beef burger that was being sold at his special concession at Harrods will soon no longer be available. The Gordon Ramsay Burger establishment will be closing in January: grab ‘em while you can. Or alternatively, head to Burger King, where the Ramsay-endorsed Wagyu (‘not made by Gordon’, the advertising coyly states) will cost you a mere £11 instead.
Ramsay may be that dread thing, famous for being famous
Ramsay’s appeal – his schtick, if you like – is that he is a shape-shifter, whether you want a blokey alpha male who will serve you the best pizza or burger you’ve ever had, or a refined and delicate chef who will give you the three Michelin-starred experience of your life at his Royal Hospital Road flagship. Yet whatever you’re getting comes at a considerable price.
It was announced that Ramsay was taking over the site of Michel Roux’s Le Gavroche and installing his Royal Hospital Road head chef Matt Abé in what he calls ‘one of the most incredible culinary addresses in Britain’. It will now be renamed ‘Bonheur by Matt Abé’. Experiencing this bonheur will not come cheap: an à la carte lunch or dinner will cost £165 for three courses, rising to £225 for a seven-course tasting menu, and that’s before any wine or service. This is not dining for the people, but for the elite.
In his heyday, Ramsay made the idea of spending a couple of weeks’ salary on a night out seem appealing. While his former mentor Marco Pierre White pioneered Michelin-starred fine dining in the 80s and early 90s, Ramsay’s gift (which owed as much to PR and celebrity as it did cooking) was to convince the average punter that they, too, should experience itsy-bitsy tasting menus costing hundreds of pounds.
But a lot has changed since then. Sterile, silent restaurants where customers barely speak to one another are a thing of the past; diners instead want fun, accessibility and better value for money. And when it comes to casual establishments, few would seriously think that a Ramsay-branded pizza or burger restaurant is going to offer the same experience as a hip independent.
Ramsay himself remains an A-list celebrity who consorts with his own kind – he was recently seen serving his friends the Beckhams scallops and caviar to celebrate Sir David’s overdue knighthood – and, of course, is an international star who is as likely to be found in Las Vegas or Dubai as he is in Chelsea. However, the now 59-year old restaurateur may be that dread thing, famous for being famous, rather than for anything that he has himself achieved in recent times.
If the new Bonheur restaurant goes the way of the Harrods Wagyu burger and the like, then Ramsay’s once-mighty Midas touch will start to look seriously tarnished. Time, then, to stop faffing about with television and return to the kitchen? No doubt the idea would be taken seriously, if it had to be. But, Gordon, an unsolicited piece of advice. Leave the film crew behind, concentrate on being a chef again, and see if that’s enough. If the world has moved on, that would be Ramsay’s very own kitchen nightmare.
Comments