Gordon Ramsay: 'Covid has wiped the arrogance from the industry'
In an interview with the Radio Times, the chef argued that that while the past two years have been 'devastating' for the restaurant industry, the upside is 'the crap’s gone'.
Asked if he meant any particular chains, Ramsay responded: “Well, just shitholes in a prime position and taking advantage because they’re in a great location and they’ve got the footfall.
“But now we’ve wiped the slate clean, which is good.”
Ramsay's restaurant group, which includes a number of casual dining brands including Street Burger and Bread Street Kitchen & Bar, as well as a number of singular, high-end restaurants, has been on a major expansion drive over the past 18 months.
It comes after the chef said back in the summer of 2020 that his ambition to 'create a billion-dollar dining proposition' had been undented by the Covid-19 pandemic, laying out plans to open 50 new sites across the UK at the time.
In September last year, the group said it 'remains committed and on course' in its growth strategy, with 'well advanced plans' to expand the group's Bread Street brand across the UK.
Ramsay also said in his Radio Times interview that customers have got so much smarter in the last two years.
“They know a lot more about food than they ever have done and have been making their own sourdough, so it’s taught everyone [in the restaurant industry] to raise their game.
“It’s wiped the arrogance from the industry.”
Ramsay was appearing in the Radio Times to promote his new BBC One primetime show, Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars, in which 12 food and drink entrepreneurs vie to go into business with the chef.
