Losses at Gordon Ramsay restaurants narrow sharply after Covid rules eased

theguardian.com:

The restaurant group owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay narrowed losses to £1m last year as sales more than tripled after Covid restrictions were eased.

Ramsay has an interest in 50 restaurants including 36 directly operated outlets in the UK, such as the Michelin-starred Pétrus and the Savoy Grill, as well as 14 licensed venues overseas.

Sales rose more than £50m to almost £80m in the year to 28 August, according to accounts filed at Companies House, but showed the extent of inflationary pressure on the hospitality industry as it remained in the red with pre-tax losses narrowing to £1m from £6.8m a year before.

The documents lay out plans to open a second Lucky Cat outlet in Manchester this month, further Bread Street Kitchen outlets – after new London sites launched in Battersea power station and Limehouse in late 2022 – and was looking for a second site in Edinburgh for its Gordon Ramsay Academy cookery school, which opened in Woking, with backing from the local council, in 2021.

Ramsay also wants to expand his casual dining Street Burger and Street Pizza chain after buying up Pizza East in London’s Shoreditch in February. The company said that while it planned to expand, it had written down the value of three unidentified sites after a review found they required “improved performance or alternative uses”.

Dozens of UK restaurants have been forced to close across the country as labour shortages and wage increases have combined with a surge in energy and ingredient costs, with diners reining in spending because of rising energy and food shopping bills.

However, the financial documents show Gordon Ramsay hired more than 500 additional staff in the year, taking the total employed to more than 1,100 as it opened two upmarket