Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Ramsaywatch UK

Tim Hayward
 Share

Recommended Posts

Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
I'll keep an eye on the place and post the minute there's any action but, right now, I wouldn't hold my breath for an opening... ever.

http://www.gordonramsay.com/yorkandalbany/

Could be a bluff I suppose, but why?

Actually, the estimable CNJ may have part of the answer - there's obviously a licensing issue.

Their archive also turns up this Feb piece which suggests that the opening will be in May, followed by this this article in May, complete with the artists impression which now suggests September.

But all this goes back to my original point. Both articles give the impression that workmen are tirelessly toiling to prepare the place for opening but in truth, the place is exactly as it was when it was locked up several months before GRH bought it and no work appears to have been undertaken under their ownership.

Unless your experience of builders is very much different to mine you'd have to agree that they're going to need a time machine to get from the current conditions to the artist's impression inside three months - or at least get a few blokes in there with hammers.

Or you could opine that no sensible company would pay builders to so much as lift a screwdriver if they weren't absolutely sure the place was going to open.

I'll buy you lunch there when it opens in September :wink:

If, OTOH the ever-grateful CNJ are thrown an 'exclusive' around Sept 20th with photos of Gordo and a new completion date somewhere in 2009, you can buy me a sandwich somewhere that's actually open. :biggrin:

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

Posted
Posted
I'll buy you lunch there when it opens in September  :wink:

If, OTOH the ever-grateful CNJ are thrown an 'exclusive' around Sept 20th with photos of Gordo and a new completion date somewhere in 2009, you can buy me a sandwich somewhere that's actually open.  :biggrin:

Either way, you're on.

Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
This just in: Murano is due to open on 21st August and York and Albany 22nd September.

Well it looks like they finally tore the bar out yesterday so things are looking better for you Andy :biggrin:

...course, there weren't actually any workmen there - which looks better for me :biggrin:

Funnily enough, one of my neighbours spotted someone looking a lot like you leaving the place the previous night carrying a lump hammer and a crowbar.... :laugh:

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

Posted
Posted (edited)
Funnily enough, one of my neighbours spotted someone looking a lot like you leaving the place the previous night carrying a lump hammer and a crowbar.... :laugh:

I'll stop at nothing to be able to see the waitress pass the hand held terminal to you and watch as you tap in those 4 little digits...

Edited by Andy Lynes (log)
Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

Posted
Posted
In short, it wouldn't be a surprise if GRH was running close to its banking covenants. Working capital is likely to be very tight at the moment, which means the business may have had to mothball some of its more cash intensive projects while new financing is sought.

RBS to the rescue click .

Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)
In short, it wouldn't be a surprise if GRH was running close to its banking covenants. Working capital is likely to be very tight at the moment, which means the business may have had to mothball some of its more cash intensive projects while new financing is sought.

RBS to the rescue click .

God, I really am crap at this money business.

I'm glad The Scotsman has the intelligence to unpack it into...

RBS has structured a refinancing facility to support Gordon Ramsay Holdings' day-to-day liquidity requirements. The package provides treasury solutions as well as working capital and capital expenditure facilities for future growth opportunities.

Ramsay said: "This is an exciting year for Gordon Ramsay Holdings as we continue to expand both in the UK and globally. The York and Albany is our first foray into hotels and Murano will confirm Angela Hartnett as the UK's most accomplished female chef. I'm delighted that RBS can support us on these amazing projects."

Mark Cattle, head of the Leisure Team at RBS, said the package would give the company a secure platform. "The business strategy has proven to be very fruitful," he said.

... because I'm fairly sure most London papers would have put 'Gordon Ramsay gets bank loan' straight on the spike and we'd have missed this.

So, someone tell me - is this the first time Gordo's been to the banks for money? Otherwise the only way I can read this is that Naebody is absolutely right and, at some point after the first announcements, GRH found themselves unable to complete the Murano and Y&A projects and put them on hold while they found another source of funds.

Which I find interesting from a spin-management POV. All we've seen in the press of Gordo's activities has been unrelieved positivity, and success. If news of this kinds appears in Scottish press after the fact and the only mention of 'mothballing' is in threads like this, you have to tip your hat to their flacks.

(BTW. Y&A update. Definitely saw something move in there yesterday. May have been tall rat.)

Edited by Tim Hayward (log)

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

naebody

naebody

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's not the first time Walnuts has been to the bank, but it's the first time he's had to seek an emergency bridging loan because the business has over-extended itself.

"a refinancing facility"

So that's a refinancing of existing debt, which wouldn't have been paid otherwise.

"day-to-day liquidity requirements"

So there was no working capital left.

Ever since Claridges, the GRH model has been for Blackstone (a big, terrifying New York private equity house) to pay for the hotel then install a Ramsay nameplate on the restaurant with a ten-year lease. The Camden Folly is a different prospect entirely, not least because of the capital requirement. And it has quite clearly ended up biting R on his much-discussed bollocks.

Edited by naebody (log)
Infrasonic

Infrasonic

Posted
Posted
It's not the first time Walnuts has been to the bank, but it's the first time he's had to seek an emergency bridging loan because the business has over-extended itself.
"a refinancing facility"

So that's a refinancing of existing debt, which wouldn't have been paid otherwise.

"day-to-day liquidity requirements"

So there was no working capital left.

Ever since Claridges, the GRH model has been for Blackstone (a big, terrifying New York private equity house) to pay for the hotel then install a Ramsay nameplate on the restaurant with a ten-year lease. The Camden Folly is a different prospect entirely, not least because of the capital requirement. And it has quite clearly ended up biting R on his much-discussed bollocks.

Hmm, if he's relied on PE in the past for funding no wonder his working capital is snookered.. :shock::laugh:

Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)

This just in...

There is a skip... which a solitary, disconsolate gentleman in an HV vest is filling, very slowly.

:laugh:

Edited by Tim Hayward (log)

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

  • 2 weeks later...
howardlong

howardlong

Posted
Posted
Ever since Claridges, the GRH model has been for Blackstone (a big, terrifying New York private equity house) to pay for the hotel then install a Ramsay nameplate on the restaurant with a ten-year lease. The Camden Folly is a different prospect entirely, not least because of the capital requirement. And it has quite clearly ended up biting R on his much-discussed bollocks.

I remember having a discussion on this very forum a few years ago about the closure of his Glasgow outlet Amaryllis where the PR from Ramsay and the reality of what I saw were two completely different things. Clearly Amaryllis wasn't making money, but in juxtaposition to Ramsay's PR that said it was because he could only fill the restaurant on Friday and Saturday. I regularly dined there during the week, staying at the old One Devonshire Gardens attached to it. I never saw the dining room anything less than full during the week. In my view its failure was because Glasgow clientelle are rather more canny than their London counterparts who're prepared to flash a lot more on a bottle of wine, and this in itself subsidises and justifies the food and service.

Thing is, I think GRH has not only been using the booze to support his empire like any other restaurant, but it's also being subsidised to some significant degree by his TV deal tie-ins, but those deals can only fund so much.

The nature of the complex finance deals descibed earlier begs the question as to whether the GR bubble is close to bursting. We have a way to go before we're out of the doldrums. PE companies right now are not at all forthcoming to their investees when they come along cap in hand three or six months later for another few mill. Entertaining new openings in the current financial climate is questionable to say the least.

That said, I do look forward to trying Murano.

Cheers, Howard

Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

Posted
Posted
It's not the first time Walnuts has been to the bank, but it's the first time he's had to seek an emergency bridging loan because the business has over-extended itself.
"a refinancing facility"

So that's a refinancing of existing debt, which wouldn't have been paid otherwise.

"day-to-day liquidity requirements"

So there was no working capital left.

Ever since Claridges, the GRH model has been for Blackstone (a big, terrifying New York private equity house) to pay for the hotel then install a Ramsay nameplate on the restaurant with a ten-year lease. The Camden Folly is a different prospect entirely, not least because of the capital requirement. And it has quite clearly ended up biting R on his much-discussed bollocks.

ramsays principal bankers up until now have been the icelandic bank kaupthing.

you don't win friends with salad

ameiden

ameiden

Posted
Posted

Does anybody have any details when the divorce between Ramsay and Wareing will come into effect?

I am asking because a very nice lady from the central Ramsay reservation bureau rang me to say that they are unable to honour a reservation I had made at Petrus for November this year. The hotel would be undergoing major renovations and therefore the restaurant Petrus would be closed at this time. She was nice enough to offer alternative reservations for other restaurants within the Ramsay group!

My (unproven) suspicion is that this was an attempt to divert diners from a restaurant that in November will no longer be part of the Ramsay group. Can anybody shed any light on this?

jayrayner

jayrayner

Posted
Posted
Does anybody have any details when the divorce between Ramsay and Wareing will come into effect?

I am asking because a very nice lady from the central Ramsay reservation bureau rang me to say that they are unable to honour a reservation I had made at Petrus for November this year. The hotel would be undergoing major renovations and therefore the restaurant Petrus would be closed at this time. She was nice enough to offer alternative reservations for other restaurants within the Ramsay group!

My (unproven) suspicion is that this was an attempt to divert diners from a restaurant that in November will no longer be part of the Ramsay group. Can anybody shed any light on this?

There's one way to find out and I'll do so tomorrow.

Jay

jayrayner

jayrayner

Posted
Posted
"The existing contract with Gordon Ramsay Holdings expires on September 19 and a new contract with Marcus Wareing will then commence"

Caterersearch

My understanding is that, at the moment no one knows for certain when Wareing's restaurant will be up and running, and that extends unto November. there were always bound to be big legal issues to solve and so it has proved...

Jay

  • 2 weeks later...
chrisp

chrisp

Posted
Posted

Forgive me for asking what could be a naive question, but what exactly could Wareing mean when he talks of being "restricted"? I was under the impression that Petrus was Wareing's world and he could put pretty much what he liked on the menu. Or is it just a case of him getting resentful of Gordon taking a cut of the profits?

Cheese and Biscuits
Matthew Grant

Matthew Grant

Posted
Posted

I'd hazard a guess that he may have had some budgetry constraints or may have had to use exisiting suppliers, I imagine there might also have been some pressure to produce food of a certain style?

"Why would we want Children? What do they know about food?"

 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...