Gordon Ramsay has suffered his own kitchen nightmare through the pandemic with his restaurant empire losing out on nearly £ 60m of trade.
The celebrity chef said in December that £ 10m worth of investments at his 35 UK restaurants had been “eliminated overnight” when coronavirus restrictions were reinstated.
“From 19 March to 3 February this year we have suffered £ 57.5m,” said Ramsay. “I’m there.”
Ramsay has 18 restaurants in London including Pétrus, Bread Street Kitchen and Gordon Ramsay Restaurant, as well as 17 others worldwide. In 2019 the Asian-themed businessman replaced the Asian Maze with a Maze Grill in Mayfair.
The chef, who is showcasing the BBC’s new Quizshow Bank Balance, said his company had used the government’s protection scheme to save hundreds of jobs for the group.
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“Lockdowns have done a lot of damage,” he told the Sun. “After being through so much with the 2008 financial crash, then the terrorist attacks and 9/11, when Covid first hit, we all thought it would be over and in two weeks. But it has been a long time. ”
The latest set of Gordon Ramsay restaurant accounts, recorded in September 2020, shows a pretax profit of £ 15.2m on sales of £ 54.7m in 2019.
The pandemic has had a “significant impact” on the group’s finances, the group’s chief executive Andy Wenlock said in a note to the accounts. They had negotiated rent negotiations with landlords and secured additional bank funding and were expected to be able to meet their obligations for at least 12 months.