Will smoke lead to fire for Gordon Ramsay
Okay, he’s not a retailer as such, but who is not interested in eating out and he is the biggest cheese in restaurantsville.
We’re talking about Gordon Ramsay and the rumours that continue to swirl around his restaurant empire. The late-filing of accounts, the closure of a couple of restaurants, the reduction in opening hours at a couple of others…etcetera. Ramsay has rapidly expanded his empire and maybe the cracks from that fast growth are starting to show a little. Although the accusations of trouble at the group have been met with swift rebuttals there is so often no smoke without fire – especially during tough times. But what worried me the most was the suggestion by a Ramsay spokeswoman that the group’s restaurants are seeing an overall increase in the number of covers. This might be good for a volume-driven business but for fine dining this means nothing. It is all about the spend and not the number of covers because upmarket restaurants can only serve a relatively small number of diners. If the average spend is down then the model becomes exposed very quickly. Just ask Ramsay rival and Tom Aikens.
