Gordon Ramsay is known for a lot of things. He’s a TV personality, a savvy businessman, and a very skilled chef. What he’s not, though, is an island. Even with all of his many talents, it takes the support of thousands of motivated people to help craft and maintain an iconic persona and sprawling business. The folks who work for Ramsay, whether as members of his television crew, business management, or restaurant staff, have lives just as rich and important as a celebrity chef. Often, they have interesting stories about what it’s like to work for one, too.
Recently, Gordon Ramsay Burger, the sandwich brand of Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, opened a location at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The sprawling restaurant is brand new, but for some members of the staff, it’s the next stop on a long journey working for Ramsay. One such person is chef Erin Fouhey, who is now the culinary director of Harrah’s, LINQ, and the Flamingo. Previously, Fouhey was the executive chef at Paris Las Vegas.
With years spent as a chef working for Ramsay, Fouhey has an intimate notion of what it’s like to be one of many people who make these restaurants what they are. She sat down with Tasting Table to provide some insight into the standards, expectations, and outcomes of working for chef Ramsay.
You might end up working in more than one Gordon Ramsay restaurant along the way
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Gordon Ramsay percolated through a network of different avenues on his way to becoming the food icon he is today. Of those methods, the show “Hell’s Kitchen” is maybe the most famous, thanks to high-stake prizes. Win on “Hell’s Kitchen,” and you get $250,000, along with the chance to run a location of the eponymous Ramsay chain. But you don’t need to put yourself through all of the shouting, tension, or highly produced scenes to have the opportunity to work for Ramsay. Instead, you can do like chef Erin Fouhey and put in effort the old fashioned way.
“I’m fortunate to have worked in a few different Gordon Ramsay concepts,” reveals Fouhey. “This is lucky number seven for Las Vegas.” Fouhey considers her experience at these locations to be formative to understanding Ramsay’s brands.
Gordon Ramsay Burger is unique in that the locations are part of a chain, but the experience is intended to be refined and upscale. That means each outpost must have its own character. Because of her experience working across Gordon Ramsay restaurants in Paris and other places, Fouhey explains that, when it came to opening the new location at the Flamingo, she was ready to help craft a personality that was unique from, say, the Boston or Chicago shops or even the other Vegas location.
“I had a really good understanding of the concept and how to differentiate ourselves from the Planet Hollywood location,” says Fouhey. How did she do it? By working with Ramsay’s personal director of culinary to develop an epic pink bun, exclusive to this particular location of Gordon Ramsay Burger.
The standards are exceptionally high, and Ramsay challenges chefs to think more critically
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It’s one thing to be a television host who shapes their personal brand around the idea of incredibly high standards. It’s another thing to be a restaurateur who backs up those high standards with exceptional food. For most chefs, it is a feat to be well-regarded at even one restaurant, let alone 80+ restaurants that span the globe. Among that sprawling portfolio, Gordon Ramsay has amassed a sky’s worth of Michelin stars, with 17 cumulative awards. (Currently, his restaurants hold eight.) Although Gordon Ramsay Burger doesn’t boast one of those accolades, chef Erin Fouhey says it plainly: “The expectations are pretty high; the standards are pretty high, which is a lot of fun for us because then we have to meet that and raise the bar.”
What do those standards mean to someone who is working for Ramsay? “He gets you to be a little more critical in your thinking,” Fouhey reveals. That might show up in the way service runs, but it could also result in creative menu choices intended to match the identity of the restaurant and the flow of operations. Considering that the new GRB at the Flamingo seats around 300 people, and that Las Vegas’ restaurant scene boasts nearly 3,000 potential dining opportunities, it’s crucial for staff to make sure that everything is being cooked and served to the highest potential.
New restaurant openings provide the opportunity to collaborate with Gordon Ramsay
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New restaurant openings are some of the most difficult things to pull off in the hospitality industry. According to a 2014 analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (via Forbes), 17% of restaurants close after their first year. To avoid being in that number, eateries need more than a solid business plan: They need creativity, craft, and consideration of so many details (especially when you’ve inked a deal with a major hotel and casino, like Flamingo Las Vegas).
Opening a restaurant becomes a bit easier when you’ve got the institutional power of a successful hospitality group, like Gordon Ramsay Restaurants. Yet, it’s not just the money and organizational structure that ensure things will be successful. Chef Erin Fouhey describes Gordon Ramsay as being highly involved in the opening process. Ramsay’s engagement provides the rare opportunity for a chef to interact and collaborate with someone who is at the very top of the industry.
“It’s really incredible for me to be in that position, where you’re having a conversation with [chef Ramsay] about these new menu items,” says Fouhey. “He’ll walk through steps with us … get you to think things through like, ‘Okay, does this make sense for this room, and does this really fit our image and what we’re trying to do here?'”
When it came time to open GRB at the Flamingo, close collaboration with Ramsay and his team was continuous. “There’s definitely a lot of Zooms, and tastings with some team members that are regional or when visiting,” she says. “We [had] a final tasting with Gordon. He came in and approved everything.”
Gordon Ramsay is involved at many of his restaurants
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“Kitchen Nightmares” is another television show that helped audiences become familiar with Gordon Ramsay. The premise of the program focuses on where and how restaurant owners go wrong, while contrasting the vision and skill of Ramsay, a successful restaurateur whose instructions and direction are intended to save these failing places. Sometimes, closing is inevitable — even Ramsay himself has had to close up shop many times throughout his career. However, one thing he makes consistently clear throughout the show is that the best way to keep a restaurant going is to be present and attentive, and that’s what chef Erin Fouhey tells us you get when you work at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.
“He really does care about every single one of his outlets,” says Fouhey, “I don’t know how he keeps them all straight … He’s quick to step on the line when he’s in the kitchen and to show you how to do something, too, which is pretty remarkable.” At her current Gordon Ramsay Burger location in the Flamingo Hotel & Casino, Fouhey tells us that Ramsay’s attention felt clear. “He’d always come in to check out and see where we’re at with construction. ‘How are we doing on hiring? Have we picked our chef team yet?'” she describes. “For as busy as he is with television and travel and all of his restaurants, he’s very involved in the process.”
When Gordon Ramsay enters a restaurant, he makes time for the staff
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It may take a lot of applied pressure to reach the heights that Gordon Ramsay has achieved with his group of restaurants, but if chef Erin Fouhey is clear about one thing, it’s that Ramsay the businessman and chef is different from the character you see on television.
“He knows we’re all working hard,” she explains, “When he gets to an outlet, he’s quick to go straight to the kitchen, say hello to the team, say thank you, go to the back of house, say thank you to our stewarding team and anybody that’s involved in the room.” Though he may not be labeling line cooks an “idiot sandwich” these days, Fouhey does tell us that you have to stay on your toes around Ramsay. “He has a great sense of humor,” she says, “and he’s quick to poke fun at everyone.”
Shaking hands and kissing babies is par for the course when you’re someone with decades of media training. For Fouhey, Ramsay feels more genuine than that. She tells Tasting Table about an experience she had working for the chef at Vanderpump à Paris, when after a walk-through of the restaurant, he invited her to sit and talk. “We just chatted and caught up,” she says. “It was just a small group of us, and I’m like, ‘My gosh, this man has so much going on … this is wild and super exciting.'”
Even Ramsay thinks his famous YouTube scrambled eggs are important to learn
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For the culinary minded, working at a Michelin star restaurant is an experience unlike any other. The potential of learning new techniques, skills, and approaches to cuisine is massive. You might come out with a new understanding of molecular gastronomy, for example. The same thing might be expected when you’re working with a Michelin-starred chef like Gordon Ramsay. However, when we asked chef Erin Fouhey to share a specific cooking tip learned from Ramsay, the experience she shared felt a bit more approachable for home cooks everywhere.
According to Fouhey, the staff were working on a soft scrambled sandwich, when Ramsay suggested they watch a YouTube video he once filmed, perfecting the technique. “I will tell you that I watched the video, and I made these eggs over and over and over again at home,” she says, “because I needed to make them for him.”
What’s so specific about Ramsay’s soft scramble? You never whisk before the egg goes in the pan, and you always remove your pan from the stove in order for the eggs to cook from residual heat. The result is a tender, unctuous scrambled egg with a pillowy texture.
