Kitchen Nightmare for Ramsay's Success Story
GORDON Ramsay`s biggest `Kitchen Nightmares` success story has gone bust just three years later.
The TV chef - whose Channel 4 show `Gordon Ramsay`s Kitchen Nightmares` aims to save troubled restaurants from bankruptcy - claimed to have saved Brighton diner Momma Cherri`s and turned it into a thriving business.
Now just three years after her restaurant was given a Ramsay make-over, restaurateur Charita Jones has been forced to close down after racking up debts of over £200,000.
After appearing on the show and being helped to turn her flagging business around by Gordon, the 52-year-old mother-of-two bought bigger premises and hired 30 staff, to expand Momma Cherri`s Soul Shack into Momma Cherri`s Big House.
She was named Sussex Entrepreneur of the Year at the Sussex Business Awards in 2006 and last year published her own recipe book `Momma Cherri`s Soul In A Bowl`.
Charita said: "We were plagued with bad luck. With the book deal, television, and all the promotion I was doing, I took my eye off the ball.
"I`m just sorry for the disappointment this has caused, but I am doing my best.
"My only regret is expanding too fast and trying to please everyone.
"I don`t regret going on the show at all. I just wish they would do a follow-up programme where they teach you how to attract the right backers.
"This is my problem, it`s not Gordon`s. I don`t blame the show in any way. I`ve never been a quitter. I`m not going to let this push me into the ground. I shall rise."
Charita`s daughter, 28-year-old Katryna, will reopen Momma Cherri`s Big House on Saturday, January 5, after reaching an agreement with creditors, but the aim is to sell-on the business.
