Gordon Ramsay hits back at Chris Hutcheson

Gordon Ramsay has spoken of the "relief and joy" felt by staff at Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) following the sacking of former chief executive officer Chris Hutcheson, who ran the business as a "dictator".

In an open letter to his mother-in-law, Greta Hutcheson, the celebrity chef said that after a decade of "manipulation and controlling of so many lives" Hutcheson's reign had finally come to an end. He added that removing his father-in-law from his business had been the "hardest and most important decision in my entire life".

The open letter, published in today's Evening Standard, comes just over a week after Hutcheson hit out at Ramsay in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, alleging unfair dismissal and denying any impropriety.

However, Ramsay said that he had appointed a private detective who uncovered Hutcheson's "very complex life" which had seen many of his key staff feeling they had to cover on his behalf. "His away days were rarely what I thought they were, but beyond that one of my biggest concerns was the business; signing huge contracts in my name and furthermore discovering e-mails were being looked at," he said.

Ramsay also blamed Hutcheson for the departure of some of the chefs from the group, adding that his relationship with his chefs "has been and always will be amazing". "To see them as individual chefs, flourish and having now made their way to be some of the most prominent chefs in the country gives me nothing but pride and joy," he said.

"The creative chefs we turned into partners, the harder they worked the more profit they generated but when they requested a share of the profits, their departure was seemingly imminent - something I wasn't comfortable with."

Ramsay added that following Hutcheson's departure a breath of fresh air went through the GRH head office "knowing that we didn't need to pretend any longer".

"When I met with my team to explain the situation, you could instantly see the relief and joy on their faces. His role as CEO of GRH in the end felt like he was running the business as a dictator."

Chris Hutcheson hits out at Gordon Ramsay >>

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Ramsay split leads to a lot of questions >>

Chris Hutcheson resigns from Gordon Ramsay Holdings >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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