Gordon Ramsay has said that he expects to make “substantial” losses from his restaurants as a result of coronavirus.
Speaking on the Frank Warren Heavyweight Podcast, the celebrity chef said the that running a business in the restaurant industry is “very hard” at the moment and “there’s no margin for error”.
He added that despite the financial woes the industry is currently facing, he is “optimistic” about the future and once his restaurants resume trading he will “treat this as a new opening and something better than we were doing before”.
He added: “Running a business is very hard and the margins now not just in the produce and the labour costs and running costs are pretty tiny, so there’s no margin for error.”
Ramsay, 53, said that the “good news” is that interest rates are down, adding that he hopes landlords will offer more rent-free periods.
On his plans for what will happen once customers return, he said: “We are going to open up, we are going to back back strong and treat this as a new opening and something better than we were doing before we closed.”
However, he added that “there will be substantial losses next year, there’s no two ways about that”.
The chef has a number of restaurants in the UK including Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill in Mayfair, London.
He also owns restaurants around the world in countries including the US, France and Dubai.
Ramsay also said that he is worried about the effects the coronavirus pandemic is having on young people.
He said: “Having three daughters and two sons, the mental health aspect of being confined to barracks and having this cabin fever, being that locked in for this length of time, we have to be very careful of the long-term effects in terms of knocking the confidence out of youngsters today.”
Frank Warren’s Heavyweight Podcast is available on Acast.
