Gordon Ramsay Announces Expansion Plans & $10M Loss

2014 is turning out to be a year of drastic highs and lows for shouty chef Gordon Ramsay: His restaurant group has taken a multimillion dollar loss in the last year but he will soon expand his restaurant empire to Asia and open more restaurants in the UK. According to UK trade publication Caterer and Hotelkeeper, the Gordon Ramsay Group will soon announce a loss of £6.4M ($10.75M USD) for the last 12 months. They are attributing the majority of the loss to a "provision" in the lease for his restaurant York & Albany in London. Ramsay is "pursuing legal action over the contract" and plans to dispute the "validity" of the lease but the property's owner is calling the claim "absurd."

The loss doesn't seem to have slowed Ramsay's expansion plans however. According to a press release, he will open an outlet of his London restaurant Bread Street Kitchen in Hong Kong in September as part of a "consultancy and licensing arrangement" with restaurant group Dining Concepts. The new restaurant will "mirror its counterpart in London" and will serve a "British European menu." His Asian expansion plans don't stop there: He has plans to open "further restaurants in the area and across the region" in the later end of 2014 and in 2015. Gordon Ramsay's restaurant group is also in "final discussions" with Las Vegas Sands to possibly open restaurants in Singapore and Macau. A spokesperson for the restaurant group notes that they see a lot of potential for growth in Asia for their other concepts in London as well. Ramsay's expansion plans appear to be very similar to another British chef, Jamie Oliver, who will soon open a Hong Kong restaurant and has another one in Singapore.

Ramsay will also continue to expand in London where he already has 12 restaurants. According to the London Evening Standard, he will open a new restaurant in London's West End in the Fall. The restaurant called Heddon Street Kitchen will be an "all day dining room" that is two floors and will serve a menu of "modern European food." Ramsay also announced in March that he is opening another London restaurant in the space that formerly housed Aubergine, the restaurant where he first got his start. He paid almost $2M for the restaurant with plans to convert it into a "60-seater restaurant" that would open by August. It looks like the expansion plans are just the tip of the iceberg: Ramsay's business partner Stuart Gillies tells the Evening Standard that there's "no reason why we can't do 50 new restaurants over the next five years."

Ramsay's expansion plans in the US have appeared to stalled however. He is currently in the midst of a legal battle with ex-business partner Rowen Seibel who is suing Ramsay for $10M. Ramsay and Seibel were partners in multiple projects in Las Vegas and Atlantic City including a fish and chips concept.

· Gordon Ramsay's Restaurant Group Set to Announce £6.4m Loss [Caterer and Hotelkeeper]
· http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gordon-ramsay-group-expands-into-asia-262337471.html [PR Newswire]
· Gordon Ramsay to Open West End Dining Room [London Evening Standard]
· All Gordon Ramsay Coverage on Eater [-E-]