More turbulence for Gordon Ramsay?

header

Late last night the blog received several messages concerning Gordon Ramsay operations. The bad new first, it  appears that highly rated chef, Josh Emett has been allegedly relieved of his duties, along with his immediate superior, an un-named General Manager. At the time of writing this, details were a bit thin on the ground, but it is widely rumoured within the industry, allegedly, that Ramsay & Emett have a volatile working relationship.

His last post within the Gordon Ramsay Holdings organisation was to oversee Maze Melbourne along with Maze Grill & in room dining (room service to you & me) at the newly opened Crown Metropol . Prior to this, Mr Emett had over 10 years of loyal service with GRH, gathering many accolades along the way.

Starting as Snr Chef de Partie at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in 2000 he was quickly noticed & rose through the ranks, working under Mark Sargeant at Claridges then in 2003 as Head Chef under Marcus Wareing at The Savoy Grill. Having gathered a Michelin star in under a year at The Savoy, Mr Emett was moved to the freshly opened American operations in late 2006. Once again the Michelin inspectors were impressed with his handy work, awarding 2* to The London NYC and 1* to the Hollywood operation.

In January 2010 he relocated closer to his native New Zealand to open Maze Melbourne & Maze Grill, but rumours persisted of alleged friction between Emett & Ramsay with the alleged lack of presence from Mr Ramsay being a regular topic of conversation. In September 2009, Mr Emett announced that he would be embarking on a film project called ‘The Chef de Cuisine Project‘ which will be a 3 part series documenting his rise in the culinary world.

With a CV which encompasses Gordon Ramsay & Donovan Cooke as former employers & gathering Michelin stars on two continents, the world is pretty much his oyster & we wish him well for the future.

Claire Smyth to leave Restaurant Gordon Ramsay?

Yet more rumours coming out of Gordon Ramsay Holdings reveal more about something we heard a long time ago. After receiving lukewarm reactions from bloggers, restaurant critics and the like in recent years, with claims that it was resting on it’s laurels, Mark Askew was brought back to Royal Hospital Road. One critic said to the blog of RHR:

It’s dated, the white chocolate bon bons with dry ice is old hat, you don’t go there to be impressed any more.

Certainly in the past two years it has been discussed on various foodie & chef forums about a loss of a Michelin star, we were asked about this (along with if there was a leaked guide). The answer is, with Mr Ramsay’s alleged closeness to former senior Michelin man Jean Luc Naret it was unlikely. Now there has been a change at Michelin guides, both in London (new editor) & at global level (although Mr Naret is back as an external consultant). Last year with the arrival of Mr Askew back at Royal Hospital Road the rumour mill started talking about Miss Smyth’s departure. We heard persistent rumblings that she would be leaving, whether to set up on her own or to be backed & funded by Mr Ramsay.

We now have it on good authority that Miss Smyth will take over what is currently known as Foxtrot Oscar, having already installed one of her old Sous chefs. We naturally assume that Foxtrot Oscar will be re-packaged & relaunched later in the year, the main problem for Miss Smyth will be a troublesome quote she gave in an interview when she became Head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

During said interview she was asked about the comparison between her & then fellow female stable mate, Angela Harnett. It was a loaded question and an unfair one to ask, but the answer will come back to haunt Miss Smyth.

I really hate it when people compare me to her because, in all honesty, Angela is a one-star Michelin chef  and I’m a three-star one.

Only time will tell, but we wish Miss Smyth all the best for her new venture.

Got a story like this? then drop the Chef Hermes Blog an email


Comments

9 Responses to “More turbulence for Gordon Ramsay?”
  1. Everett says:

    I have a question as do most Americans with respect to the Kitchen Nightmares show(s). Since it’s inception and original airing by Fox I have always wondered what kind of deal Gordon Ramsay must have with the network.

    Of, course I have wondered how much of the TV show is just, “Good TV” but more importantly just what is Gordon getting out of all of this? It would seem to me to just be good business to request a percentage of ownership of each restaurant that he will help and ask, for example, 10% of the each business’ profits would not seem too unreasonable to me.

    If I had a failing restaurant that Chef Ramsay could help repair and… that it would establish a positive cash flow once again, I would jump at the chance.

    Over the years the show has been on the air, if he were to get 10 % of 100 restaurants, for example, and factoring in the restaurants that fail, Mr. Ramsay would always have an additional income for one week’s worth of work.

    It just seems like a reasonable and sound business decision. So, I wonder if anyone really knows what is promised by Fox for Ramsay’s help and what is contained in the actual written contract.

  2. Fred Flinstone says:

    Your website seems to go to sleep for ages and then wake up with some “news” or a “book review”.

    You are resembing one of Jamie Oliver’s young (English) commis; the Internet is a 24 hour a day activity. I respectfully suggest you update your site on a r more frequent basis, or go back to the day job.

    Fred

  3. Arturo says:

    JOsh emmet and enda Cunningham the GM both let go from GR. Holdings for being exceptionally good at loosing money

    • chefhermes says:

      Thx for your comment ‘Arturo’ & the blog has to point out that it isn’t our opinion for the reasons that you give above but your own.

  4. Derek salmon says:

    Think it’s about time Gordon got back behind the stove and concentrated on cooking and not grabbing head lines ( also try and fit in a HR course)

    • chefhermes says:

      Thank you Mr Salmon, Unfortunately you seem to display a stereo-typical attitude towards Mr Ramsay that is prevalent particularly in British chefs. Mr Ramsay is a businessman & a chef, just like Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon & Pierre Gagnaire.

      Yet seldom do you hear anybody say that they should be back behind the stoves. So why should Mr Ramsay be any different? Up until very recently he hire &/or nurtured talent for his organisation, for example the MAZE concept probably wouldn’t have happened without Jason Atherton.

      Yes, GR is often making the headlines for the wrong reasons, but ultimately he is a successful businessman.

Trackbacks
Check out what others are saying...
  1. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chef Hermes, Chef Hermes and Barry Bevan, Chef Hermes. Chef Hermes said: Gossip: More turbulence for Gordon Ramsay? http://wp.me/pOZBV-wl [...]

  2. [...] the original post: More turbulence for Gordon Ramsay? « The Chef Hermes Blog Related Posts:Famous Chef – Gordon Ramsay » City of Gordon Just so you know, Michelin Stars are [...]



  • Foodies 100

    Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
    Morphy Richards
  • Directory for Torquay, Devon