Like him or not, the foul mouthed UK chef is facing his own nightmare as he was advised to file for Bankruptcy after breaching the terms of a £10.5m loan. Profits jumped of 87% from to £3m to just under £400,000 for the 12 months to August 31. An aditional £5m were pumped in the 23 restaurant’s group by the chef and his father in law who declare ” the worst of the crisis was over”

15% of its staff were laid off and “Cut the cost” policy has been setup. Gordon Ramsay said to Fox News :

Heading out of global economic downturn has been tough but for me it has also been a breath of fresh air. The industry was getting far too arrogant, they weren’t respecting customers enough and they forgot the customers were king. Customers just disappeared. Those that were in the restaurants weren’t drinking wine. All were on tap water. Then we had a huge downturn, Monday to Thursday. Your staff costs are the same, your running costs are the same. It was a nightmare.

Well what can we learn from that ? As many other industries confronted with a downturn, key to recovery is a matter of quick reaction. Earlier the better. These decisions might be painful especially when lay-offs are involved but so necessary to make the business running.

No doubt the banks are on the tail of debtors. its remind us of Anthony Worrall Thompson who did not manage to get a £200,000 loan from his bank and was forced to go into receivership. Banks are short of liquidity and it has a huge impact on the Restaurant group’s growth most of which rely on loan.