Gordon Ramsay and his sneaky vans!

Sanguinnus · 17 Apr 2009 at 23:47

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1171004/Gordon-Ramsay-serves-ready-meals-prepared-London-factory--586-mark-up.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/5169631/Gordon-Ramsay-accused-of-using-ready-meals-in-his-restaurants.html

Discuss!

Pure hypocrisy it would seem to me.

Bucket · 17 Apr 2009 at 23:49

I highly doubt it. Think it's a load of old rubbish.

I hope it isn't true anyway, as he is one of the only Chefs I do like.

Sinque · 17 Apr 2009 at 23:50

^

Snap, I think it's just lies. I like the guy, his obvious passion for food wouldn't allow himself to do this.

Sanguinnus · 17 Apr 2009 at 23:51

I was going to add a bit about how accurate the tabloids actually are but the no smoke without fire motto sprung to mind, I wonder just how unbiased the reports are. I do get an inkling that there is a little bit of sensationalism to the whole story but at the same time they surely aren't just making this stuff up.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong i'd class him as one of my favourite chefs too, I just feel horribly conflicted in light of this, to put it in perspective this comes not long after him having an affair being exposed-ish. Makes you wonder what the difference between his tv morals and his real ones are.

zain · 17 Apr 2009 at 23:57

I only clicked the second link.

Some of it will be produced but I reckon most of it will be freshly made, that's his best feature he wouldn't lose out on that.

Bucket · 17 Apr 2009 at 23:57

I don't think he's so money driven that he would spend the time and effort, and get so wound up with people that are failing and destroying their business. I think he cares for real cooking and success of restaurants too much for this.

Heliospherez · 18 Apr 2009 at 00:03

Considering I can't find anything to do with GR Logistics or GR Holdings to do with anything related to catering in Clapham - I reckon it's all rubbish.

crazyDAJT · 18 Apr 2009 at 00:19

4-6X mark up is standard in restaurants, whats the problem??

K.C. Leblanc · 18 Apr 2009 at 00:28

Sounds likely.

There are dishes that can't be prepared in the time someone is prepared to wait for them so they have to be made in advance. Why not prepare them off site?

If the quality of the ingredients is good and the it's done appropriately this isn't an issue.

username · 18 Apr 2009 at 02:00

To be honest nothing they have said leads me to believe that it is a con. What is the difference between doing the prep work in a kitchen in the morning and then popping it in a fridge ( just as every other restaurant does) than to popping it in a refrigerated van and driving it to the end use place? It isn't as if they have said the ingredients are frozen and stored for weeks until needed. They have said they are prepared in a central kitchen and then shipped to the retail point (that has a small kitchen) for sale. If the ingredients are prepared daily and served daily then I see no problem. If a small Gastropub has no room for extensive prep work then this isn't as if Gordon Ramsey is serving Findus microwave cod in parsley sauce.

Storm in a Tea Cup if you ask me.

Mikeey44 · 18 Apr 2009 at 02:00

theres just no way he does that

Azagoth · 18 Apr 2009 at 02:23

Load of ****! Nothing but tabloid journalism at it's best!

Pestilence · 18 Apr 2009 at 02:39

Azagoth said:
Load of ****! Nothing but tabloid journalism at it's best!

Agreed.

I'm sure there's quite a few ingredients in his kitchens that are pre-prepared and ready to rock, but that's just the nature of restaurants.

csmager · 18 Apr 2009 at 09:34

Mikeey44 said:
theres just no way he does that

According to the paper I read (haven't looked at the above articles), a spokeswoman for GR Holdings had said that it was true, and they made no secret of it. Although nothing sold as 'fresh' was made off site - just things that were usually made in advance as would usually be made in the mornings.

This place only supplies Foxtrot Oscar and the two Gastropubs - the 'cheap' Ramsay-owned places.

oli collett · 18 Apr 2009 at 09:55

csmager said:
According to the paper I read (haven't looked at the above articles), a spokeswoman for GR Holdings had said that it was true, and they made no secret of it. Although nothing sold as 'fresh' was made off site - just things that were usually made in advance as would usually be made in the mornings.

This place only supplies Foxtrot Oscar and the two Gastropubs - the 'cheap' Ramsay-owned places.

Yep - it's hardly like he's doing it at RHR.

This kind of thing happens all the time in your average "gastropub" - even the decent ones you find. At least these are prepared by a company under his control rather than by an outside company like it would be for most other pubs.

It is, however, somewhat hypocritical that he criticises other places of doing this in kitchen nightmares. Remember the one over christmas when he went to that small family run restaurant who were doing something similar for some of their meals? The only difference was they were prepared by an outside company.

meghatronic · 18 Apr 2009 at 09:58

So what? Even if true, what I doubt.

No fresh products are cooked off site.

Wiggins · 18 Apr 2009 at 10:19

Daily Mail said:
Head chef Darran Ridley told an undercover reporter from The Sun how it provides ‘the majority of the food’ for Ramsay’s bistro Foxtrot Oscar in Chelsea.

Telepgraph said:
Popular dishes such as fishcakes, sausage rolls and coq au vin are made en masse at a production site in Clapham, south London, The Sun has claimed.

Says it all tbh :rolleyes:

A load of tosh.

csmager · 18 Apr 2009 at 10:32

Wiggins said:
Says it all tbh

A load of tosh.

Bute

The Telegraph said:
A spokesman for Ramsay was quoted: "On an average day up to 50 per cent of the menu at the three gastro pubs and Foxtrot Oscar could be done off-site.

"But no fresh produce, such as cuts of meat are done off-site."

danza · 18 Apr 2009 at 10:34

crazyDAJT said:
4-6X mark up is standard in restaurants, whats the problem??

Azagoth said:
Load of ****! Nothing but tabloid journalism at it's best!

I couldn't agree more. Newspaper journo retards.

Delvis · 18 Apr 2009 at 10:40

K.C. Leblanc said:
Sounds likely.

There are dishes that can't be prepared in the time someone is prepared to wait for them so they have to be made in advance. Why not prepare them off site?

If the quality of the ingredients is good and the it's done appropriately this isn't an issue.

Exactly what I thought.