GORDON RAMSAY has grabbed the title of the world’s highest earning chef with an income of up to £15 million a year, the Standard can reveal.
The global success of his television shows means he is commanding $250,000 (£157,000) an episode to make the American versions of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares.
Other broadcasting and book contracts, as well as endorsements for products such as Gordon’s Gin, will swell the multi- Michelin-starred restaurateur’s earnings outside the kitchen to between £12 million and £15 million this year.
This puts the 41-year-old behind only a handful of pop superstars and his close friend David Beckham.
In an exclusive interview, his business partner and father-in-law Chris Hutcheson said revenue from the Gordon Ramsay empire is set to hit £100 million by 2010 in defiance of the economic slowdown.
He added: “Next year will be stunning for us because everything is firing on all cylinders.”
Gordon Ramsay Holdings now runs 25 restaurants and pubs in London, America, Europe and Asia with plans for up to four more by 2010.
Apart from a slump in takings at The Narrow, his pub in Docklands, and a five per cent drop in private dining bookings, the restaurants are riding out the economic turmoil, Mr Hutcheson said.
But it is Ramsay’s breakthrough in America through his deals with broadcaster Fox that has sent his earning potential into the stratosphere.
Hell’s Kitchen USA was commissioned for its sixth and seventh series last month and US Kitchen Nightmares is in its third season.
In an extraordinarily frank disclosure of his son-in-law’s finances, Mr Hutcheson revealed that Ramsay:
● Makes £2 million a year from his Channel 4 contract a £1 million retainer and £1 million from individual appearances. The contract extends to 2011.
● Earns around £1 million per book and is contracted to write two a year, including the latest Cooking for Friends. A book on pubs is due in March.
● Makes 60 per cent of his non-restaurant earnings from America.
● Has this year insured his life at Lloyd’s for £25 million to protect the business and his family.
Long awaited accounts for Gordon Ramsay Holdings filed with Companies House today show that turnover from British restaurants alone grew 21 per cent to £38.1 million in the year to the end of August 2006. The business made an £816,717 pre-tax profit.
But Mr Hutcheson, who owns 31 per cent of Gordon Ramsay Holdings and is entitled to a cut of the TV and book revenues, said turnover grew strongly again in 2007 to reach £46 million with profits of £3.6 million.
On top of that, the restaurants in New York, Florida and Los Angeles are generating $40 million (£25 million) a year now boosted by the strengthening dollar. Total income for all the restaurants, the TV shows and other Ramsay earnings will be more than £80 million this year.
But the reopening of the Savoy Grill and the relocated Petrus in 2009 combined with new restaurants in Doha, in Qatar, and Melbourne will push this over the £100 million mark in two years, he said.
The single highest earning London restaurant is Maze in Grosvenor Square with a turnover of more than £10 million, putting it on a par with The Wolseley. Claridges is most profitable, generating £2 million a year.
Mr Hutcheson met Ramsay who features in a live “cookalong” on Channel 4 tonight 16 ago when the chef started going out with his daughter Tana.
He said: “Yes, the banks are cancelling some of their private dining, but there you are. We have to cut back as well. It is a good, profitable part of the business.”
He added there was still scope to grow: “The first £100 million is the hardest bit. It’s the hundreds of millions that come after that that will be more interesting.”
