Gordon Ramsay's Cape Town Maze has closed

Gordon Ramsay's Maze restaurant in Cape Town has closed after the One & Only resort terminated the chef's consultancy contract.

Maze Cape Town opened at the hotel in April last year, with Gordon Ramsay Holdings' (GRH) Jason Atherton at the helm as executive chef and Phil Carmichael as head chef.

While the restaurant gained critical acclaim, rumours began circulating that the consultancy agreement was going to be terminated after Atherton quit GRH in April. These fans were flamed when Carmichael announced he was leaving the restaurant earlier this month.

The news was first reported on food and drink blog Spill, before being confirmed by Bloomberg.

The hotel has now confirmed that GRH's "engagement as a consultant has terminated".

"As a result, the restaurant at One & Only Cape Town no longer trades under the Maze brand, but the restaurant will remain owned and operated by One & Only Cape Town," it said.

"All employees who worked at Maze Cape Town are employed by One & Only Cape Town and will not be affected by the transition."

The move follows the closure of Maze Prague last year and means that there are now four sites under the Maze banner: London, New York, Doha and Melbourne.

A spokeswoman for GRH said: "GRH Ltd is purely a consultant to Maze, One & Only, Cape Town. We were aware that the hotel has been having some difficulties but they only informed us of their decision to close Maze this morning. We will be reviewing our contractual agreement with them."

She added: "The Maze restaurants in the UK and around the world are performing extremely well, with the recent opening of Maze, Melbourne, exceeding all expectations."

Gordon Ramsay to debut in Africa with Maze restaurant >>

Executive chef James Durrant leaves Maze >>

Gordon Ramsay holdings hands back control of Maze Prague >>

Maze Cape Town Menuwatch >>

By Daniel Thomas

E-mail your comments to Caterer News here.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk

Caterersearch.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Caterersearch.com jobs