“Chefs are s*** at running businesses,” says Ramsay. “When you look at the f***-ups with Marco [Pierre White] and [Jean-Christophe] Novelli, and what they’ve done in terms of how their businesses have disappeared without a trace, it’s because they’ve tried to run those businesses themselves.” Ramsay may be the exception to his own rule. An internationally renowned chef and a successful entrepreneur, Ramsay’s global empire shows no signs of disappearing. How did this temperamental man who once dreamed of playing professional football become one of the most celebrated chefs today?
Standards: “One thing we’ve never done – and I think it’s crucial to the success of the business – is taken customers for granted,” says Ramsay. “We’ve never sent out a dish and said, ‘They won’t notice the difference, send it! They won’t know what the sea bass is two-and-a-half minutes overcooked. I'd rather keep the customer waiting 15 minutes and get it perfect.” For Ramsay, when cooks start sacrificing quality and standards, it is time to let them go. It is by refusing to question integrity that he has been able to rise to the top. After all, he says, “We're as good as our last meal.”
Leadership: “From the minute a customer picks up the phone to make a reservation to the point where he or she receives petits fours, it's a huge team effort,” says Ramsay. “So now, I suppose, I'm a player-coach.” Ramsay knows that he is only as strong as the people behind him, so he goes to great efforts to train them, challenge their abilities, and make them feel like a valued part of the team.
Movement: “The transition from chef to restaurateur requires you to have one foot in the restaurant and one foot in the kitchen,” says Ramsay. “You can never afford to become static.” One might think that with three Michelin stars there is nowhere else to go for this top chef, but Ramsay is determined to stay at the top of the pack by staying on top of the times.
Discipline: “The choice of restaurants today is phenomenal so the competition's really intense,” says Ramsay. “For me, pressure's healthy, and I say to my guys: 'Put yourselves under immense pressure.' It only becomes really unhealthy when you can't handle it, and then you shouldn't be there.” It is by disciplining himself and refusing to become too confident in his success that Ramsay has been able to handle that pressure.
Research: Ramsay is a self-professed foodie, and he has to be in his high-end restaurants. But, he is not too removed from the rest of society to understand what other people want to see on his menus. He understands his customers and tailors his dishes accordingly, which is why people keep coming back for more.
“From a chef’s point of view, you have to stay six months ahead of your customers,” says Ramsay, and that is exactly what he will be doing for the foreseeable months to come.
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