‘We take negativity seriously’: Gordon Ramsay bares recipe for success
MANILA, Philippines — Fully-booked since day one; over 10,000 reservations one month since opening — indeed, “the reception to the Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill” in the Philippines “has been extraordinary,” the restaurant’s eponymous founder said at his first ever visit to the country, with a fan meet in Pasay City yesterday.
“The Filipino passion for food is incredible. The Philippines has such a rich culinary heritage, and I’m excited to be part of this vibrant food scene,” the world-renowned, multi-Michelin-starred chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay said.
Because of the success of his first ever restaurant in the Philippines, Ramsay announced yesterday that he is mulling to open more, including a branch of his famous Hell’s Kitchen restaurants, which is in at least seven locations in the U.S.
Related: Gordon Ramsay announces plan to open Hell’s Kitchen, 3 more restos in Philippines
Pondering on his success as a TV personality and restaurateur, Ramsay advised other chefs to maximize the power of social media in building and marketing their brand.
“Every chef should understand the importance of marketing and the generations to come. These kids are gonna be like football stars because they're gonna own their own DNA, their own cookbooks, and their own IP (intellectual property) and so they just know how to market themselves as a chef, I think they're a little bit awkward about the intrusion of social media and so I teach all our kids to embrace it.”
Using social media, he said, is “a great way of establishing confidence, it's a great way of sort of looking at yourself and judging yourself on a global platform…”
“You can learn so much and you can do so much on there and I think more than anything it gives them self-awareness, a lot of confidence because they have to sell themselves because they're gonna become, you know, instrumental to investors to have in turn they're gonna be becoming partners in businesses, so they have to become entrepreneurs, and I think that social platform will really help them get there,” he expounded.
Instead of getting discouraged by bashers, he advised to take these as constructive criticism. At his restaurants, he gave as example, he always considers any form of feedback and takes advantage of social media’s interactiveness in monitoring his restaurants’ performance all over the globe.
“The whole team are on it and we take negativity very seriously. We listen to the comments, we listen to the critics and we hold the bar high, so the intensity across the training is exceptional,” he attested.
Dedication and training, he stressed, are the keys to maintaining consistency in all of his restaurants even if he is not always there to run the kitchens.
“We focus on training. That level of consistency is crucial for us, and we have several academies now that are popping up around the globe, and as opposed to these 23 year-long culinary classes, we're doing sort of 60-, 90-, 120-day intense training purely on dishes,” he stressed.
“We hold the bar high, so the intensity across the training is exceptional — the leader, the soft runs, the testing, the palate testing, the scrutiny over the inside, the dish, we give you such confidence…”
Understanding different cultures is crucial, and travel is of the essence, he noted.
“Traveling into different cultures and understanding. You know, you never get up to speak with the language, but you can speak through the food, and understanding of what they're about and how to master what they're about.”
Humility is key, he said, because it opens more doors to learning.
“And so you just have to keep on going up and down, and when you start down again in the next kitchen, you just learn so much more rather than going in at a higher position, taking more responsibility on. It's not about the responsibility in your twenties, it's about the education. Go out with this plethora of knowledge that only you will have and you can dip in those little nuances that you've learned and then you start formulating your own style because you've had three or four good mentors,” he said, sharing that he, too, apprenticed with some of the world’s greatest and multi-Michelin-starred chefs even as he was already making his own name.
At the end of the day, passion, and not profit, would lead one to success, Ramsay assured.
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable; don't get too comfortable,” he addressed culinary students in the audience. “Between the ages of 18 and 26, you have to be the most energetic sponge, and food is like medicine, it's like law, you put in an eight-to-10-year apprenticeship. It's crucial, so never take any job or any salary or any increase in salary because it's not the money you need, it's the knowledge you need… So yeah, get comfortable being uncomfortable!” — Video by Chyna Merin
