Gordon Ramsay

Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a total of seven. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001. 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 television appearances are defined by his bluntness, fiery temper, strict demeanour, and frequent use of profanity. He combines activities in the television, film, hospitality, and food industries, and has promoted and hired various chefs who have apprenticed under his wing. He is known for presenting television programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as the British series ''Hell's Kitchen'' (2004), ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'' (2004–2009, 2014), and '' The F Word'' (2005–2010), with ''Kitchen Nightmares'' winning the 2005 British Academy Television Award for Best Feature, and the American versions of ''Hell's Kitchen'' (2005–present), '' Kitchen Nightmares'' (2007–2014), ''MasterChef'' (2010–present), and ''MasterChef Junior'' (2013–present), as well as ''Hotel Hell'' (2012–2016), ''Gordon Behind Bars'' (2012), ''Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back'' (2018–2020), and ''Next Level Chef'' (2022–present).

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 only the third person to have won three Catey Awards. In 2020, ''Forbes'' listed his earnings at US $70 million for the previous 12 months and ranked him at No. 19 on its list of the highest-earning celebrities.

Early life

Gordon James Ramsay was born in the Scottish town of Johnstone on 8 November 1966, the son of Helen (née Cosgrove), 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 his father abused and neglected the children. 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 an apartment 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 describes his decision to enter catering college as "a complete accident".

In the mid-1980s, he worked as a commis chef at the Wroxton House Hotel. He ran 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 to London, where he worked in a series of restaurants until being inspired to work for the temperamental 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, where he met Jean-Claude Breton, later his ''maître d'hôtel'' at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. After working at Le Gavroche for a year, Albert Roux invited Ramsay 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. In ''Master Chef'' series 3 episode 18, Gordon Ramsay stated that Guy Savoy was his mentor. 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 went on to win its first Michelin star fourteen months later. In 1997, Aubergine won its second Michelin star. Despite the restaurant's success, 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'' listed Restaurant Gordon Ramsay as the second best in the UK, only bettered by The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire.

After establishing his first restaurant, Ramsay's empire expanded rapidly. He next opened Pétrus, then Amaryllis in Glasgow (which he was later forced to close), 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 guide, 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 (formerly the Bel-Age 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 (at the former Rotisserie Laurier BBQ) 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 (OBE) 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 (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 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 1 minute and 5 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.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings

All of Ramsay's business interests (restaurants, media, consultancy) 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.

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.

December 2012 saw the Las Vegas opening of Gordon Ramsay Burger (originally spelled BurGR, it was rebranded in 2017). Other locations of the gourmet hamburger dining establishment would open up later 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.

17 April 2018, saw the opening of the Ramsay's first ''Street Pizza'', 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 (GRNA), 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 a number of Ramsay's restaurants had to close temporarily under the coronavirus lockdown. Ramsay, whose personal net income was estimated to be US$63 million in 2019 by ''Forbes'', was criticised for the lay-offs.

It was announced in 2019 that Ramsay would open his first restaurant in Macao, ''Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill'', at the new ''The Londoner Macao'' hotel and casino (formerly the Sands Cotai Central). the restaurant has not yet opened.

3 December 2020, saw the opening of Ramsay's first Street Burger, in the St. Paul's area of London. Designed to be a more casual experience than the gourmet hamburger dining found at the USA-launched Gordon Ramsay Burgers chain, other Street Burger locations followed in London, Woking, Reading, and in the USA.

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.

Ramsay's new cookery school called ''The Gordon Ramsay Academy'' opened in Woking, Surrey in September 2021.

Television

Ramsay's first documented role in television was in two fly-on-the-kitchen-wall documentaries: '' Boiling Point'' (1999) and ''Beyond Boiling Point'' (2000), but he had appeared previously as a judge on a MasterChef-like series for young catering students in 1997, with his then restaurant partner. Ramsay appeared on series three of '' Faking It'' in 2001, helping the prospective chef, a burger flipper named Ed Devlin, learn the trade. This episode won the 2001 BAFTA for "Best Factual TV Moment."

In 2004, Ramsay appeared in two British television series. ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'' aired on Channel 4, and saw the chef troubleshooting failing restaurants over one week. This series ran its fifth series in 2007. ''Hell's Kitchen'', a reality show which aired on ITV1, saw Ramsay attempt to train ten British celebrities to be chefs, as they ran a restaurant on Brick Lane in the East End of London, which opened to the public for the two-week duration of the show. Although he was the creator of ''Hell's Kitchen'', Ramsay only starred in the first series, as he signed a four-year contract with Channel 4, ruling out any possibility of him appearing on future episodes of the ITV-produced show.

In May 2005, the Fox network introduced Ramsay to American audiences in a US version of ''Hell's Kitchen'' produced by Granada Entertainment and A. Smith & Co. The show follows a similar premise to the original British series, showcasing Ramsay's perfectionism and infamously short temper. Ramsay had also hosted a US version of '' Kitchen Nightmares'', which premiered on Fox on 19 September 2007. On 23 June 2014, Ramsay announced he was ending the series. In June 2018, ''Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back'', a new series with a premise much like ''Kitchen Nightmares'' but a shorter timeline, premiered on Fox.

Ramsay has presented five series of a food-based magazine programme titled '' The F Word''; it launched on Channel 4 on 27 October 2005. The show is organised around several key, recurring features, notably a brigade competition, a guest cook competition, a food-related investigative report and a series-long project of raising animals to be served in the finale. The guest cook (usually a celebrity) prepares a dish of their own choosing and places it in competition against a similar dish submitted by Ramsay. The dishes are judged by diners who are unaware of who cooked which dish and, if the guest wins (as they have on numerous occasions), their dish is served at Ramsay's restaurant. The US version premiered on 31 May 2017 on Fox.

In July 2006, Channel 4 announced that it had re-signed Ramsay to an exclusive four-year deal at the network, running until July 2011. The series became one of the highest rated shows aired on Channel 4 each week. During one episode of ''The F Word'', Ramsay cooked in Doncaster Prison in Marshgate for its inmates. The chef was so impressed by the speed at which a prisoner, Kieron Tarff, chopped vegetables that he offered him a job at his restaurant following his release in 2007.

In 2010, Ramsay served as a producer and judge on the US version of ''MasterChef''. (A second season of the show began in June 2011, again starring Ramsay.) On that same show, he was joined by culinary judges Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich. He starred in a travelogue about his visit to India, ''Gordon's Great Escape'' followed by a series set in Asia. He hosted the series ''Ramsay's Best Restaurant'', which was the first UK series by Ramsay's own production company, One Potato Two Potato.

Ramsay joined several other celebrity chefs in the 2010 series, ''The Big Fish Fight'', where he, along with fellow chef Jamie Oliver and a few others, spent time on a trawler boat to raise awareness about the discarding of hundreds of thousands of sea fish.

In March 2012, Fox announced the coming of Ramsay's fourth series for the Fox network, ''Hotel Hell''; the series is similar to ''Kitchen Nightmares'', except that it focuses on struggling hotels, motels and other lodging establishments in the United States.Entertainment Weekly, via CNN: "Gordon Ramsay scores new Fox reality show: 'Hotel Hell'", 21 September 2011
Cnn.com (21 September 2011). Retrieved 27 June 2012. Originally slated for debut 6 April 2012 and 4 June 2012, the series debuted 13 August 2012.Deadline.com: "Gordon Ramsay's Fox Series 'Hotel Hell' To Premiere In August"
11 June 2012. More recently, he signed a deal with Fox.

Guest appearances

In September 2005, Ramsay, along with Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal, Wolfgang Puck and Sanjeev Kapoor, were featured in CNN International's ''Quest'', in which Richard Quest stepped into the shoes of celebrity chefs.

In 2006, Ramsay took part in a television series for ITV, following the lead-up to ''Soccer Aid'', a celebrity charity football match, in which he played only the first half, nursing an injury picked up in training. Ramsay captained the Rest of the World XI against an England XI captained by Robbie Williams. His involvement was limited after he received a four-inch cut in his calf.

During his second appearance on the BBC
...