http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/240947/Two-thirds-of-the-restaurants-saved-by-TVrsquos-Ramsayrsquos-Kitchen-Nightmares-amp-chef-Gordon-Ramsay-shut-or-sold.html

Flop Ramsay left us FF-ing broke!
Bitchin' nightmares for chef Gordon

MORE than two-thirds of the restaurants supposedly saved by TV's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares have been SHUT or SOLD, we can reveal.

And most of the furious owners blame foulmouth chef Gordon for taking them out of the bleedin' frying pan and into the effing fire.

Just eight of the 22 eateries he tried to turn around on his Channel 4 series remain open with the same owners.

The latest to close is LOVE'S FISH RESTAURANT in Brighton, which shut in December.

Owner Allan Love told the News of the World: "I'm now destitute, I've lost my business, my home and I'm penniless.Ramsay leaves a little guy in the s*** and just makes himself look great."

BONAPARTE'S in Silsden, West Yorks, shut just one month after Ramsay stepped in. Owner Sue Ray was left homeless, jobless and saddled with £400,000 debt.

She said: "The programme makers told us the show would put us on the map. Instead it put us out of business. The bookings just vanished."

In Liverpool, the owners of MORGAN'S blamed a backlash against Ramsay for its closure.

Laura Kelly, who ran the business with her mum and sister, said: "There were a lot of people who didn't like Gordon so after the show they actively avoided our restaurant. Many locals felt because of the programme they didn't need to support us as we obviously had it made-but the reality was very different."

A couple who ran the once Michelin-starred WALNUT TREE in Llandewi Skirrid, South Wales, also blamed the TV show for it going bust.

Francesco and Enrica Mattioli claimed their episode made them look too pricey, leading to fewer bookings. Enrica said: "We really wish we had not done it. We are very angry."

In Chelmsford, Essex, D-PLACE went bust just two weeks after the cameras left. Owner Israel Pons said: "The menu Ramsay came up with was extremely poor. When we put it into action, we dropped 50 per cent in sales. He wasn't the saviour everyone seemed to think he would be."

JACKSON'S in Blackpool lasted six months. Owner Dave Jackson said: "We don't feel the final edit of the show gave an accurate picture."

THE GRANARY in Titchfield, Hants, was ruined by two arson attacks within a month of being on Kitchen Nightmares in 2007.

MOORE PLACE in Esher, Surrey, was quickly sold by owners Nick Whitehouse and Richard Hodgson in 2006. LA LANTERNA in Letchworth, Herts, was closed by Alex Scott soon after his episode was aired. OSCAR'S in Nantwich, Cheshire, was sold by Maura Dooris eight months after being on television. SANDGATE HOTEL in Folkestone, Kent, was sold by husband-and-wife team Lois and Peter Hamilton-Slade six months after their episode.

At LA GONDOLA in Derby, once visited by the likes of Brian Clough and Norman Lamont, head chef Steve Straughan quit his job soon after seeing Ramsay dismiss his work on TV. It went into liquidation in 2007.

At ROCOCO in King's Lynn, Norfolk, ex-Michelin star holder Nick Anderson said once the Ramsay honeymoon period was over, bookings disintegrated- and he filed for bankruptcy in 2007. And at PICCOLO TEATRO in Paris, France, Rachel McNally shut up shop while filming was going on..

Even some of the restaurateurs who hung on to their businesses were scathing of Ramsay's input.

Scott Aitchison of THE PRIORY in Haywards Heath, East Sussex, said: "Trade's been slower. Gordon upset the customer base, calling them the 'blue rinse brigade'."

At MOMMA CHERRI'S in Brighton, Charita Jones said: "We're just about breaking even. I wrote to Gordon but I heard nothing back which was very disappointing. His advice would have been very useful."

And Brian Rey of THE FENWICK ARMS in Claughton, Lancs, said: "By changing the menu, we lost a lot of trade."

Restaurant owners grateful for the show include Neil Farrell of the Glass House in Ambleside, Cumbria. He said: "Gordon helped me like you wouldn't believe."

And Arfan Razak of the Curry Lounge in Nottingham said: "The experience was really good. We still get new customers on the back of the programme 1½ years later."

Last night a Channel 4 spokesman said: "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is a well-established format, so contributors- who choose to go on the show because their restaurants are already in serious trouble-know how the show works.

"They also know that once Gordon leaves it's up to them how they implement his advice and what they decide to do.

"The first episode was filmed in 2003 and considering how tough it is to run a restaurant, the fact so many of the struggling places featured are still going is testament to the effectiveness of Gordon's advice."
They're steaming in the States, too
GORDON'S bid to fix ailing restaurants in the States has also been slammed as a failure.

Just nine of the 21 restaurants in the first two series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare's USA remain open with the same owners.

And one of them, Billy LeRoy, 47-who runs Handlebars on Long Island-was disillusioned by the experience. He added: "Most of the new things we had to ditch because our regulars hated them and thought it was just an overpriced lunch menu."

Here's what happened to the other 12: PETER'S, New York, shut; MIXING BOWL, NY, sold; SEASCAPE, NY, sold; OLDE STONE MILL, NY, new owners; SEBASTIANS, California, shut; FINN MCCOOL'S, NY, new owners; LELA'S, California, sold; TROBIANO'S, NY, shut; BLACK PEARL, NY, shut; J WILLY'S, Indiana, shut; HANNAH & MASON'S, New Jersey, shut; JACK'S WATERFRONT, New Jersey, new owners.

Given the failure rate of restaurants, 40% success rate is phenominal considering he has one week to fix businesses that are already failing.

I've looked into a few of these:

Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack moved into a three-story place with live music: http://www.mommacherri.co.uk/

When Love's closed there was note on the door thanking Ramsay: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2009/01/05/325477/ramsay-nightmare-restaurant-loves-fish-closes.html

Jackson's completely changed and went back to cafe food - that was in the episode.

The gondola didn't HAVE a chef (besides the one they had literally hired the day before) at the end of the episode.

The Piccolo in France....oh the Piccolo.  "Service! Oh fuck that's me again" sums that up.  The owner obviously had/s a drug problem.

Put on top of that the fact that in places like New Jersey, 80% of new restaurants close within 5 years: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/during_recession_upscale_resta.html

The fact that Ramsay could make thousands of euros just selling soup and bread to tourists in France - serving and cooking all by himself, well it proves that marketing really is key.  If you're not spending at least 15% of your income on effective marketing, especially on a *new* business, what are you doing?

I'm sorry, but this is, a GR would say, "Bull****".

I just watched the D-Place episode and even IN the episode, Pons tells Gordon (on camera) that the food he introduced was "perfect" and "beautiful" and that it had been selling well after he left. Which makes his comments a bit confusing.

In fact, the club sandwich Gordon introduced to the menu was served even after Israel Pons' ownership ended. Gordon went to the restaurant to see the French chef Philippe still there, and even HE said the club sandwich was the best selling food there, and was a favorite of the customers.

He even managed to put one of them together for him in six minutes flat and bring it outside to him (apparently the new owners wouldn't let them film inside the restaurant.) So it even looks like the work GR did to shape up the kitchen - and bring passion back to the chef - worked. (I did manage to Google a 2005 article (http://archive.gazette-news.co.uk/2005/5/27/115879.html) quoting the chef as saying they had "dropped" many of GR's dishes. Whatever.)

The previous owner was wrong, apparently. Even without his weak leadership, the restaurant still exists, is still putting out at least part of GR's menu, and is doing better.

So, Gordon WAS the savior of the restaurant. It looks like Mr. Pons didn't like the comments at the end of the episode that he wasn't a very good businessman. Come to think of it, didn't the start of the episode feature a voice-over comment about how he had already LOST four businesses out of the five he had owned?

Has anyone been to this place to verify that its still there today, and that food is up to snuff?

Like other people have said, food service is an industry with a very high failure rate.  Even among business that don't have the problems you see on KN the failure rate of restaurants is high.  Also, as good as Chef Ramsey is at what he does, he's not Jesus.  Word of mouth advertising and reputation are absolutely critical to a restaurant's success.  The Chef cannot be held responsible for years of the crap that's gone on creating a terrible reputation for a restaurant.  He can fix things and hope that word spreads things have changed, but he doesn't have God like abilities to change the mind of a community.  Equally, Chef Ramsey is there as a consultant.  He can't make the owners stick to his standards and changes, or take his advice.

Also, one of the common themes you see on KN are owners that simply not experienced in the restaurant industry.  A lot of people have no idea what kind of work that goes into running a restaurant, and I think a lot of these people bit off more than they could chew.  Bottom line on the sold restaurants is you have to count those as successes, because the business turned around enough that someone else wanted to buy it, and could get a bank/investors to lend them operating capital to take it over.  A restaurant that was still failing would not have been sold.