Ramsay loses Ferrari as the crunch bites
FOUL-MOUTHED television chef Gordon Ramsay has publicly admitted for the first time that his global restaurant empire came close to collapse.
The Scot revealed he was forced to get rid of his precious Ferrari and even considered selling the family home after finding his company was losing millions and he owed £7million in tax.
Ramsay and business partner and father-in-law Chris Hutcheson have pumped £5million of their own money into the business since January to stave off the threat of closure brought on by ambitious expansion plans and the recession.
Talking about the moment when auditors went over his books and drew up plans to put his firm, Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH), into administration, the chef said: “It was the worst b******ing ever. They told me I was f*****, they said we should plan for administration, that it would be smoother for everyone. God I loved that Ferrari, but there was no way I was going under. I couldn’t let down my staff and suppliers. It’s been very painful. It’s taken several million pounds of my own money but I’m still standing.”
The pair handed back or closed restaurants in Paris, Los Angeles and Prague and sacked a quarter of the staff at their London head office. “At times it felt like a witch hunt. I’ve put my hands over my face and taken the blows,” he said.