not surprising... I would never eat at any of those places...even after Ramsay was there. I wouldn't trust half of those fools with my food. LOL!

well i think that it's a shame that it's the case, but if something is failing and isn't being managed well - then a week of his presence isn't going to change things all that much. i kind of wish that people would have a better sense of how to do things, and that the allure of GR being there would be a draw, but i guess you can't win them all.

Well 95% of restaurants fail so

It's really sad to see all those businesses closing, but they needed much much more training.
Gordon Ramsay also has a money issue on his own, he needs some help himself ...
http://lavieinenglish.blogspot.com/2009/03/note-you-prefer-oulala-read-t...

A lot of those places are such holes when he gets there it's no wonder. I get the impression he does his best with (a) what he has to work with at each restaurant and (b) attempting to keep the in-fighting offensive tone he's known for.

Ha! The show is the ultimate kiss of death-- I would NOT go to these restaurants after their makeover, given what we see before it. Yuck.

Babeth, how ironic to read in your link that Ramsay's Holdings is "saved" because it secured a loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland. The latter was just in the news for saddling the British government with an enormous stimulus to get it out of its debt.

I have no idea how this show is still on. I know that they make each episode look like a success story, but come on!

I don't watch the show very often, but it seems to me like a lot of the restauranteurs on this show aren't the greatest businesspeople, so it really doesn't surprise me that they go out of business. It's not enough to be a great chef; you have to know how to cater to the public and make food that appeals to a lot of people.

well, without Ramsay 100% of them would have closed. Old habits die hard and I'm guessing a lot of the places he visits go back to exactly what they were before. Also, most restaurants fail, so his average is high even with the tremendous disadvantage of going in when things are already so desperate.

When he did the show in the UK occassionally he would go back a year or 2 later and see what was happening. Several had done exactly what we were all saying and they had gone back to the previous way of running their business and had run it right into the ground, the chefs that he had influenced previously now had new jobs at different restaurants where their skills were put to better use by experienced owners, an owner's ego would start to reexert itself and it would overwhelm any good business sense they had. Sad, really, but I guess predictable.

That doesn't give the number which closed or sold because they couldn't afford to keep them going, had lost diners, etc. Some of those sold might have been because they were doing well, or (in some cases on the show) the owners had always been hoping to sell. Even so, only 50% of those restaurants closing in an industry where 95% go under? Pretty amazing.

Most of the places were on their last leg, Ramsay just gave them some crutches and therapy and they fell on their own faces.

No, not surprised at all, but i do love the show and i do love him, he is very talented!

Ha, kind of amusing.

Considering that they were all on their absolutely last legs, I think we could see the glass as half full: 50% of them are still operating after a year which must be a tribute to him since they were on the verge of collapse!!

I agree that many of them were probably sold b/c they were now making money and the original owners realized they clearly weren't cut out for the restaurant world.

So I basically don't see these stats as proof of BS by the show. I think they show his success.

ps I like the UK version better - it's less orchestrated confrontation.

Totally off -topic but I met with a friend last week & she took me for lunch at her favorite Malaysian restaurant for lunch - OH MY GOD! GREAT FOOD at AFFORDABLE PRICES (got enough served to us that we took doggie bags home for the next day! Now, I stop in once a week to get lunch; trying everything on their menu...
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It got me thinking how many places I never tried because I never thought I'd like the food...

I'm not surprised, I wouldn't eat in most of those restaurants. I can't over how dirty the kitchens in some of them were! Yuck!

Failing businesses get a consultant in, have an infusion of capital in the form of a make-over of what ever needs to be 'fixed'. The dining room, the kitchen the refrigerators. And a marketing boost.

That any of them stay open at all, regardless of management changes is a success for the show.

In a world where contrived situations like being ship wrecked, then voted home, are called reality programming, this is a dose of reality.

f*cking haters.

I'm watching this show

and I'm learning a lot about the restaurant business that I didn't know before. It's a simple business. But simple doesn't mean easy. The restaurants in this show are pretty much free falling into the toilet or already about to get flushed. The owners generally don't know the first thing about running a fine dining restaurant (which I learned from the show is that you cook with fresh ingredients, never frozen and as little processed as possible). Their business sense is pretty much a big fat zero.

Gordon comes in, gives the place a make-over, trims the menu to something simple and focused, markets it a little, and gives it a free 45 minute long infomercial. Many of the chef/owners are so arrogant that they only grudgingly accept any of his advice and yet half of these nightmare businesses are able to succeed after only a week of Gordon Ramsey whipping them into shape?

I'd say that's an amazing success rate. I think a lot of people are turned off by Gordon Ramsey's foul language and caustic personality but you can't argue with success. If I was ever in the position of having my life's savings on the line in a failing business I'd be willing to listen meekly to whatever Gordon Ramsey had to say and I would do everything in my power to do things more like him and less like me.

But people who just can't get past a few F-bombs and in your face 'this is how bad it really is' speeches are going to hate on Gordon and gloat at every perceived failure in their polite little passive/agressive way and I guess that's what this reporter is doing.

Of course they close down, they are going bankrupt for whatever reasons, it has nothing to do w/ Ramsey, its a show, for entertainment and it would be nice to think you could help, alas in the long run the people who run it have done too much damage already.