Why Some Pandemic Restaurant Closures Have Been Good, According To Gordon Ramsay
Celebrity chef and restaurant owner Gordon Ramsay is known for slamming and shaming restaurants on both the U.S. and UK editions of the reality series "Kitchen Nightmares” while helping some of them overcome problems and move forward on more solid footing (per IMDB).
He's counseled chefs struggling with running a kitchen and the business side of the restaurant, suffered through "sushi pizza" topped with mayonnaise and seafood, yelled at chefs for losing their cool with family members, staff, and customers, prodded restaurants with menus and decor stuck in the last century to take a more modern approach, and broken the news to chefs that the only thing their restaurant has going for it is the drinks menu.
The Michelin-starred chef with a potty mouth is never one to mince words, even as restaurants everywhere have been living a nightmare scenario for two years: getting through a global health crisis intact. In the U.S., an estimated 10% of restaurants have closed their doors for good as a result of the pandemic (per Nation's Restaurant News).
Gordon Ramsay says 'The crap's gone' from the restaurant industry
The way Gordon Ramsay sees it, the news is not all doom and gloom — especially for diners. For restaurants, the last two years have been a sort of survival of the fittest. The silver lining, Ramsay says in his signature straightforward way, is that "the crap's gone” (via Bloomberg).
In an interview with the UK's Radio Times covering a variety of topics, the "Hell's Kitchen" host said the pandemic has knocked out average-at-best restaurants blessed with good locations but not much else to recommend them. "But now we've wiped the slate clean, which is good," Ramsay said.
The food and restaurant industry is changing, Ramsay continued, and that is not a bad thing — especially for patrons. "Customers have got so much smarter in the last two years,” Ramsay said. "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. "Raise. Your. Game. It's wiped the arrogance from the industry," the chef said.