Hell

CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay has found himself in hot water after his UK restaurants suffered a near 90 per cent drop in profits, forcing the foul-mouthed chef to pump his own money into the business.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings filed accounts showing that the TV chef and Chris Hutcheson, his father-in-law and business partner, were forced to inject £5m to keep the business running.

Ramsay’s business problems are blamed on ambitious expansion as well as the closure of key London restaurants like the Savoy as pre-tax profits tumbled 87 per cent from £3.05m in 2007 to £383,325.

Ramsay has rampantly expanded his business, almost doubling the number of restaurants to 10 during for the 12 months to 31 August and made a foray into cooking schools, with a 51 per cent stake in Tante Marie in Surrey.

The company’s debts soared from £4.01m to £9.48m during the period, which doubled interest payments from £279,485 to £545,563. At the same time, an unpaid backlog of VAT, corporation tax and PAYE reached almost £8m and is only now being repaid this month.

And the business breached covenants on loans with Royal Bank of Scotland because it did not generate enough revenue.

The Savoy Grill was shut because of refurbishment at its host hotel, while its Connaught lease expired. The two restaurants alone accounted for a £9.5m reduction in revenues.

A statement from the firm said that, after a restructuring of operations, it was confident it had “successfully undergone change for the better” and was now “well-placed to grow”.