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Row threatens Ramsay's big night in New York
By Christina Boyle and Edward Helmore, Evening Standard 10.11.06
Senior members of staff at Gordon Ramsay at The London are threatening to walk out, it has been claimed
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The opening night of Gordon Ramsay's first New York restaurant has been overshadowed by claims of a row with staff.
Gordon Ramsay at The London is due to be launched on Thursday with a celebrity-packed party. But today there are claims that workers are considering a walkout over being denied a share of the tips.
An article on a widely read New York restaurant blog alleges the most senior waiting staff - many brought from Britain - face earning half as much as more junior workers because they are not in the local union.
The anonymous letter, on eater.com, is attributed to a worker at the restaurant. It says: "There's a potentially disastrous situation unfolding at Gordon Ramsay at The London.
"The non-union service staff (captains, maitre ds, sommeliers, the ones working 14-15 hour shifts) have been entirely cut out of the tip pool.
"The union employees ( backwaiters and waiters, the ones working an eight-hour shift each day) are getting all the tips that the restaurant makes. So, a backwaiter will be making roughly 40 to 50 per cent more than his managerial supervisor!
"Many of the non-union staff have contemplated leaving, if not already out the door."
The 45-seat restaurant, with the 90-seat London Bar, is Ramsay's first venture in the highly competitive New York City market and is costing £2.6 million. It is modelled on Ramsay's venue in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, which has three Michelin stars.
The restaurant and bar are part of the refurbished London NYC Hotel, formerly the Righa Royal, a few blocks from Times Square in Midtown Manhattan.
The reservations line was flooded with calls when it opened on 16 October. The venue is now accepting reservations two months in advance. A source at The London said the launch would go ahead as planned, and it was believed the letter had been sent by a disgruntled former employee.
"There's no problem, no one is unhappy and rumours there could be a mass staff walkout are untrue," the source said.
"We believe it was sent by someone who used to work here who is a union member and had previously been at a different restaurant where there were different rules and they made a lot of money. They came here thinking they would get the same deal and were wrong."
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Chris Hutcheson, chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, admitted that dealing with the Local 6 union could complicate the opening of the restaurant, especially given Ramsay's fiery reputation.
The Evening Standard had a preview of the restaurant and its dishes. The decor - by David Collins, the man behind the Berkeley Hotel's Blue Bar - is Art Deco. There is a chandelier and thick carpets in the main dining room.
The seven-course Menu Prestige features Ramsay's signature cappuccino of white beans, lobster ravioli poached in a lobster bouillon, celery root cream, shellfish vinaigrette and chervil velouté.
A la Carte dishes include hand dived sea scallops, striped bass fillet steamed with fennel purée, fresh pasta, and oscietra caviar velouté. Desserts include pain perdu and poached custard apples.
However, restaurant critics in New York say the question is whether locals will have faith in a restaurant where the star chef is not in the kitchens.
One rival cook to Ramsay said: "People here expect to get the very best - and that means the man himself. Everybody's curious about Ramsay, but if he's not around, they might not come back."
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Reader views (1)
People of New York mystified by Gordon Ramsay will not miss a thing in his absence from the kitchens of the London. He is a name brand. When I eat at Davids of Portland or Newburyport the clam chowder is unmistakably Davids. It is a set recipe and the non-Davids on the cook staff are quite capable of consistancy. Gordon Ramsay will carve a great setting into hard concrete of Gotham. He just needs a little luck finding people who can understand what the hell he has listed on the menu. Strip steak is strip steak. On the order of buisiness with the staff however the posh positions need to be more considerate to the tip-poolers after all they only have eight hours and probably no health coverage, just trying to keep their apartments. It is not an easy grind.
- Thos. Beckwith, Hudson Massachusetts U.S.A.
