Yesterday, we learned that Gordon Ramsay at the London would close after eight years in business, during which time it lost its namesake chef, its high-profile chef de cuisine, and its Michelin stars. The hotel confirmed its split with the chef in 2009, and an air of friction seemingly remains between management and the celebrity chef. A spokesperson for Ramsay told us that “the door remains open for them to engage with us in a meaningful way,” and considering the bigger picture of his various projects undertaken around the world during the last 15 years, it wouldn’t exactly come as a surprise if Ramsay blew into town this fall to plot out a new New York flagship. That in mind, we decided to look at the grand tally of all Ramsay restaurants to get a sense of everything that has opened and closed in the last decade-plus.
A note on the calculations: Instances such as the one at the London where the fine-dining restaurant closed, but Maze, its connected barroom will remain open, are treated as separate entities here. Places where Ramsay dissolved ownership that have since closed are categorized as closures; the enterprising chef also has several new places on the way.
Closed
United States:
Cielo by Angela Hartnett (Boca Raton, FL, 2007-13)*
The Fat Cow (L.A., 2012-14)**
Gordon Ramsay at the London (NYC, 2006-14)
United Kingdom:
Amaryllis (Glasgow, Scotland, 2001-04)
Aubergine (London, 1993-2010)***
The Boxwood Cafe (London, 2003-10)
Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s (London, 2001-13)
Angela Hartnett at the Connaught (London, 2002-07)
Fleur (2004-05)
The Devonshire (London, 2007-10)
L’Oranger (London, 1996-98)
La Noisette (London, 2007-08)
Pétrus (London, 1999-2008)****
The Warrington (London, 2008-11)
Everywhere Else:
Gordon Ramsay at Conrad Tokyo (Tokyo, 2005-13)
Gordon Ramsay at Powerscourt (Enniskerry, Ireland, 2007-13)
Laurier Gordon Ramsay (Montreal; 2011-12; the restaurant has since rebooted without Ramsay)
Maze (Cape Town, South Africa, 2009-10)*****
Maze (Doha, Qatar, 2010-12)
Maze (Melbourne, Australia, 2010-11)
Maze Grill (Melbourne, Australia, 2010-11)
Maze (Prague, Czech Republic, 2008-09)
Verre (Dubai, UAE, 2001-11)
Open
United States:
The Boxwood Cafe (L.A., 2009- )
Gordon Ramsay BurGR (Vegas, 2012- )
Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill (Vegas, 2012- )
Gordon Ramsay Steak (Vegas, 2012- )
Gordon Ramsay at the London (L.A., 2008- )
Maze (NYC, 2006- )
United Kingdom:
Bread Street Kitchen (London, 2011- )
Foxtrot Oscar (London, 2008- )
Gordon Ramsay Plane Food (Heathrow, London, 2008- )
London House (London, 2014- )
Maze (London, 2005- )
Maze Grill (London, 2008- )
Murano (London, 2008- )
The Narrow (London, 2007- )
Pétrus (London, 2010- )
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (London, 1998- )
Savoy Grill (London, 2010- )
Union Street Café (London, 2013- )
York & Albany (London, 2008- )
Everywhere Else:
Bread Street Kitchen (Hong Kong, 2014- )
Gordon Ramsay at Castel Monastero (Tuscany, Italy, 2009- )
Gordon Ramsay at Forte Village (Sardinia, Italy, 2009- )
Gordon Ramsay au Trianon (Versailles, France, 2008- )
La Veranda (Versailles, France, 2008- )
Opal by Gordon Ramsay (Doha, 2012- )
Gordon Ramsay Restaurant (Doha, 2012- )
On the Way
Heddon Street Kitchen — London; opens November, 2014.
Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill — Atlantic City; opens 2015.
Unnamed 11 Park Walk location — Former Aubergine space, where it all began; late 2014 or 2015.
Nearly half — 47 percent — of all Gordon Ramsay restaurants closed, changed hands, or rebooted without the chef. That is impressive for a nearly two-decade run, especially considering assorted downturns, bubbles, and the general decline of white-tablecloth culture. And of course, more than 60 percent of all restaurants featured throughout Ramsay’s entire Kitchen Nightmares (2007 to 2014) run are now closed.
Around ten years ago, an academic study indicated that 61 percent of restaurants don’t make it past three years, and in 2011 it was shown that in New York City 80 percent of restaurants are done for within five years. Fifteen of Ramsay’s still-open restaurants have been around for five years or longer, which is downright phenomenal. Still, in a time when restaurateurs increasingly turn to cloning existing projects in an effort to stymie the failure rate, it’s been announced that at least two out of three of the Kitchen Nightmares guru’s next projects will be copycats of preexisting locations. Most likely the business strategy is in place so the chef can avoid some really bad dreams of his own.
Related: Gordon Ramsay at the London Is Finally, Mercifully, Closing
Related: Over 60 Percent of the Restaurants on ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ Are Now Closed
*Ramsay left the restaurant in 2010.
**Closed because of an alleged trademark dispute.
***Ramsay bought his first restaurant back for $2 million this year.
****Moved; the full history of Pétrus is complicated, to say the least.
*****Ramsay Holdings said the chef had just been a “consultant” at the time of the closure.
* This post has been updated.
