Ramsay's restaurants move into profit as turnover leaps
Chef-restaurateur Gordon Ramsay turned restaurant hell into restaurant heaven last year, converting a £1m loss at his chain of high-profile eateries into a £3.8m profit.
Turnover at the group of seven London restaurants, which include Angela Hartnett's Menu at the Connaught, the Boxwood Caf‚ at the Berkeley hotel and Banquette at the Savoy, jumped almost 50% in the year ending 31 August 2004, from £21m to almost £31m.
Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's was the group's most profitable restaurant, racking up profits of £1.4m on a turnover of £6.7m over the 12 months.
Marcus Wareing's P‚trus at the Berkeley hotel was the second most lucrative, making a profit of £432,931 on sales of £5.6m.
Ramsay, who owns 69% of the business, paid himself almost £300,000. The chef now employs 668 staff, up from 523 last year.
The results came despite Ramsay closing the loss-making London restaurant Fleur in St James's last year. However, he did open two new ventures: the Banquette and the Grill at the Savoy hotel.
The group will expand further this year with two new openings: Maze at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square hotel will open in the summer, and there will be a yet-to-be-named restaurant at the new Conrad hotel in Tokyo.
In February, Pengelleys is due to open in London's Sloane Street - the chef, Ian Pengelley, has a management contract with Gordon Ramsay Holdings.