Gordon Ramsay
People love him, people hate him, but it’s impossible not to respect him—for his abilities as a chef and restaurateur, for his unflinching perfectionism, for his unassailable determination and his meteoric rise to fame. Gordon Ramsay set the standard as the world’s most uncompromising TV chef, with an acerbic temper to match his unflinchingly high standards. Born November 8, 1966, near Glasgow, Scotland, Ramsay grew up in the birthplace of Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, after his
family moved there when he was 5. His is an almost mythic success story, rising from a disadvantaged upbringing to one of the world’s most recognized and respected chefs, with multiple Michelin stars under his belt. Famous for television shows that put aspiring chefs and struggling restaurateurs through hell, Ramsay’s profanity-laced, dictatorial kitchen leadership style first hit UK TV screens in 1999 with the miniseries Ramsay’s Boiling Point.
Chef Ramsay had a rough start on his path to success, with an alcoholic father, a brother on heroin, and a childhood spent moving between 17 different schools. But his unrestrained ambition would be his ticket to a better life, and the first object of that ambition was a professional athletic career playing soccer. At age 15, Ramsay joined the professional club the Glasgow Rangers, but his pro athletic life was cut short when he sustained a critical knee injury that left him unable to play. Forced to start over on a new career path, he went back to school to study hotel management and catering, which was, Ramsay claims, “a complete accident”.
As fate would have it, Ramsay’s first jobs after graduating were in the kitchen. It was in 1988 that his true bolt of inspiration stuck, when he discovered chef Marco Pierre White, one of the hottest chefs in Britain at the time, while flipping through a magazine. He became transfixed, and was determined to go work for White, even if he only had experience as a line cook up until that point. Admittedly, Ramsay exaggerated his level of experience and successfully convinced the top chef to take him on, kicking off an apprenticeship that opened him up to new foods and techniques. It was both a mentorship and rivalry for Ramsay, whose newfound ambition became to earn as many Michelin stars as possible.
Ramsay didn’t have to wait long to realize that ambition. After a few years of working under the direction of Michelin-starred chefs—White, Albert Roux, Guy Savoy, and Joël Robuchon—he was brought on as head chef of Aubergine in London, which earned its first star in just over one year. After Aubergine was granted its second star in 1997, Ramsay made the life-changing decision to set out on his own, opening Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in 1998. In just a few short years, Restaurant Gordon
Ramsay earned the highest honor—3 Michelin stars—making Ramsay the first Scottish chef to ever accomplish the feat.
What followed was a series of restaurant openings and successes, and a television career that culminated in his iconic hit series Hell’s Kitchen and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, both of which had separate UK and US versions. The series showcased the extremes of Ramsay’s personality and executive style: loud, profane, and severe, but also, at times, candid and tenderhearted. Ramsay himself described the necessary qualities of a successful top-level chef as being “a highly focused
control freak”, something that not only came across in his television chef persona but in the level of precision and perfectionism he expected from his contestants. This, coupled with his brash, aggressive communication style often brought his contestants to tears, but it’s also what made him an international TV star, with audiences tuning in week after week to see what he would dish out next.
Gordon Ramsay is a chef, restaurateur, television personality, and author. He is one of the world’s most decorated Michelin starred chefs, and has opened dozens of restaurants on multiple continents, including Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay at The London, Pétrus, Maze, and Savoy Grill. He has starred in many international television series, including Hell’s Kitchen , Kitchen Nightmares, The F Word, and Gordon’s Great Escape . Ramsay has also written numerous books, including Passion for Flavor, Just Desserts, and Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking.
