F*c%n& 'ell: Gordon Ramsey faces tough times with his restuarant empire

A little off-topic, but if anyone is interested in making breakfast (lesson by Gordon Ramsey):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxV9QLuEwZo

This one hits home with me. I always looked up to Gordon Ramsay, read all of his books and watched every single episode of his TV shows.

I left the world of software for a year and half to chase after a restaurant dream and spent tons and tons of money on legal, design, consulting, architects etc. just to have the economy crash by the end of last summer in the middle of additional capital raising.

Put things on hold and came back to where I really belong; the world of software. Now I'm working on exciting startup projects. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I actually managed to open the place.

There is a reason for everything. Maybe this was meant to be...

Interesting.

He seems to make most of his money from TV deals. His massive restaurant empire took in 35 million pounds pre-recession, but profits were only about 1.5 million pounds.

On a totally different note, I'm disappointed that Gordon Ramsay doesn't follow in the footsteps of Jamie Oliver and Wolfgang Puck by advocating better standards in the meat industry. I think he still serves foie-gras- goose liver that gets engorged to 10x its normal size due to force feeding.

The restaurant industry, particularly at the high end, is incredibly reliant on having a good percentage of diners that will order the higher priced dishes and/or high-margin items such as alcohol/desert/coffee.

Unfortunately these are the first things sacrificed by diners who still wish to eat out but want to be more budget conscious.

"Annual revenue growth in the roughly $1.5 billion global restaurant industry is expected...."

Is this how small the industry is or is it a typo?

That should be Ramsay, not Ramsey.

Too big, too fast.