John Footman has told Caterer about his plans for the Goose after Ryan Simpson's dramatic departure earlier this year. Footman and owner Paul Castle's plans include expanding the bar, reviewing prices, and lending more support to the local community - all in a bid to get more customers through the door. Can they succeed, or has the restaurant's reputation taken too much of a kicking?
John Footman says that he has lived in the village for 7 years and that The Goose had no longer become a local venue.
He also sites that you can "could go to the Manoir and have a glass of wine and a sandwich if you wanted. But you couldn’t come here,”.
Not wanting this to become a personal attack on Mr Simpson, and this is only based on what is out there on the web. But he appears to be really lacking in financial awareness and hopefully he watched the Michelin programme by William Sitwell & actually takes some of the criticism (of the red book) on board.
Ryan Simpson was (allegedly) in the position of General Manager / Head Chef and counter claims the owners suggestion that The Goose was losing money and "The restaurant was half-full on Saturday nights and struggled to find customers in the week", with “I don’t know if the restaurant was losing money but the idea was that we could be making more money".
So he was Manager but didn't know that the place was losing money?
I have no doubt he can cook, and Michelin have recognised this. But he clearly needs to think more about the business. After all (and I say this enough times with some of my clients staff), it is a business not a charity and it is about making money. If Mr Simpson wishes to "put our heart and soul into winning the Michelin star" then let him do it with his own money. Being blunt about it, it smacks a little bit like a Mr James Stocks to me.
As of yet we are still to hear from Mr Simpson & his 'team' with anything concrete on opening a new venture and time will tell as most of them will have bills to pay.Lets face it when you have on your CV that you were part of the team which achieved a star, only to walk out 3 weeks later, future employers are going to be thinking are going to do it to me if they don't get their own way?
Quite frankly, the way this has been handled by the staff is poor, the fact that they couldn't negotiate with the owner or the staff actually work any kind of notice period. They were in charge of their own destiny and they have taken the route were they have exited with least credablity.
I personally wish Mr Footman all the best for the future and hope that he proves that he can regain the star doing food which is both profitable and keeps everybody happy (both the owner & the customers - locals or not)
Thanks for the reply Boch. Interesting point about Simpson and his team - I wonder how far they have got with opening a new venture.
Apparently he's re-surfaced here:
http://www.orwellsatshiplake.co.uk/
just a holding page & opens on 1st May
Also looks like he's got a consultancy on board aswell
http://twitter.com/susannewilliams
Thanks for the info Chef Hermes - isn't twitter a wonderful thing!
Interesting! Thanks for that Chef Hermes.
A bit more detail having spoken to Ryan Simpson about his new venture here: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2010/04/23/333111/Former-Goose-head-chef-Ryan-Simpson-to-open-new-restaurant.htm
Hi,
I have a little bit of personal experience of this place and the owner, and i agree mostly with the points that you raise. Particularly the way in which the whole affair was handled, staff and owner in the wrong.
I would imagine that the owner took very little interest day to day but was the one controlling the purse strings, he has been clever in the press to cover his own failings by passing the buck to Ryan and his team, who to their credit have remained silent after their initial press. It interests me that 'poncy' food was making no money, and then he employs a chef who has an excellent michelin background and no doubt whats to make his own mark in a similar style. I cannot see the relationship lasting more than a year. Will the buck be passed to the chef again by the owner?
The disapointing thing is that a good place to eat and drink is now tarnished, with so little else locally of any quality.
I wish John Footman all the luck in the world and this must feel like a great opportunity, on the doorstep. Whether the owner thinks its going profitable short term or long term is in the lap of the gods.
Good luck also to Ryan and team for going out on their own, with the opening and the opportunity to prove a few doubters and un-informed people wrong.
The Goose, Britwell Salome is closing down, for good
Sad sad story
Just had confirmation from the Goose that they are indeed closing permanently from 1 Aug. You are right Mack, this is sad and I guess it answers the question I originally posed on this thread! Thanks for keeping us up-to-date:
http://tinyurl.com/33veftj