Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant empire is back in the black despite tough conditions in the restaurant industry.
The celebrity chef’s company made a pre-tax profit of £0.5m in the year to August 2018 after making a £3.8m loss the previous year when the company was hit by a hefty legal bill and the five-month closure of its Plane Food venture at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
The group, which has only previously made a profit in one year since 2012, hailed a “strong performance” with a 4.3% rise in sales to £53.6m.
The revival of Ramsay’s business comes amid tough times for restaurateurs. Fellow celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s restaurant business fell into administration last week closing all but three of its 25 outlets while chains including Carluccio’s and Gaucho’s Cau have been forced to close outlets.
Ramsay said he planned to expand Street Pizza, his new “bottomless pizza” concept, outside London this year despite “much-maligned market conditions”.
The group currently has 15 restaurants in London, including Pétrus, Bread Street Kitchen and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, as well as 23 overseas outlets. Ramsay’s Maze restaurant in the London Marriott hotel in Grosvenor Square closed in January after 14 years and is being replaced by a new venture Lucky Cat which opens next month.
Lucky Cat has taken 3,000 reservations since opening bookings on 23 May and will include a late bar and two chefs’ tables in the kitchen alongside the main restaurant.
The company said it had also invested significantly in its digital promotion strategy gaining 1.3m of its own social followers on top of Gordon Ramsay’s personal following of 20m, and 10m subscribers on his YouTube channel.
Ramsay said: “Guests do not just expect a good plate of food, we are relentless with our food quality, that is a given. Our guests want to join us for all occasions, be it social or business, and then relax in a great environment. We have to understand our guests, what they want, where they are heading and we have to head there with them or be left behind.”