Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has said that the Covid pandemic has weeded out ‘crap’ restaurants. In an interview with the Radio Times, he added that the massive upheaval caused to the hospitality industry, while ‘devastating’, has ‘wiped the arrogance from the industry’.
The celebrity chef, who is not known to mince his words, said that some outlets had ridden on good locations for footfall rather than delivering quality for too long, and the restaurant business will be forced to ‘raise its game’.
Ramsay was speaking in an interview with former cabinet minister and shadow chancellor Ed Balls in the magazine.
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“The business was on its arse, but it’s getting better,” Ramsay said when asked whether he thought the industry was getting back to normal. It’s been devastating the last two years. Landlords don’t say, ‘Take a holiday for two years’. But I think what has been evident for all of us is the crap’s gone.”
Asked if he meant chain restaurants, he added: “Well, just sh**holes in a prime position and taking advantage because they’re in a great location, and they’ve got the footfall. But now we’ve wiped the slate clean, which is good.
“Customers have got so much smarter in the last two years. 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. It’s wiped the arrogance from the industry.”
Manchester has lost many restaurants over the pandemic, but not all have been chains. The vegan Vertigo restaurants closed all their sites in the city earlier this month, while other casualties have included Lunya, Tapeo and Wine, Teacup Kitchen, Dough & Apotheca and the Cat Cafe.
Tampopo closed its Piccadilly Gardens branch too, and in terms of major nationwide chains, branches of Carluccios, Frankie & Benny’s, Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge, Wahaca and Zizzi have also closed around the city.
