10 things you can learn

from Gordon Ramsay

about running a
business
Written by Verne on March 11th, 2008

In my spare time lately I’ve

been catching up on a good
dose of Ramsay’s Kitchen
Nightmares with Gordon
Ramsay. If you aren’t familiar
with this show or who Gordon
Ramsay is, here’s the premise
in one sentence: Scottish
award-winning celebrity chef
rescues failing restaurateurs
from bankruptcy with brutal
honesty and humorous
obscenities.
Aside from his entertaining overuse of the F-
bomb, what I’ve found is that Ramsay brings a
wealth of experience, knowledge, and insight to the table on how to run a business. He
himself has been at the head of many self-started restaurant ventures – some successful,
some not so successful – and his passion, talent, and wisdom are clearly elements that have
led him to become one of the most well-known businessmen in and out of the kitchen.

In Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsay applies a number of basic principles to help

failing restaurant owners turn their fate around. While the series revolves around the food
industry, much of Ramsay’s lessons are applicable to businesses of any nature. Here’s a list
of 10 of those lessons that will help you run a more successful business.
1. Think simple.

Ramsay often rips apart restaurant owners who over-complicate their menu and dishes and
inevitably advise them to dumb it back down to the basics. The same applies to your
business – it doesn’t need to have layers of complexities to be successful. Often the most
prosperous ones are the ones that have the simplest and most straight-forward value
offering. It’ll help your customers identify what you do at a glance, and ensures that you don’t
burn out from running an overly complicated operation.

2. Find your niche or unique

selling point.

Do you offer a specialty grooming service

for budgies? Or maybe you’re just the
only restaurant in town that can serve up
real gravy made from scratch. Whatever
the case may be, it’s important to find
your unique selling point – the element
that sets you apart from the rest of your
competition. This one’s been repeated in
pretty much every business book, blog, and episode of Kitchen Nightmares, so I won’t go
any further. It should be a no-brainer.

3. Know your role.

If you run a restaurant business, it doesn’t mean you need to be the chef. Business owners
serve all kinds of roles (often more than one) in their own businesses, and it’s important to
know where you fit in best. Be honest with yourself, as your arrogance in thinking you can do
it all may be hindering your success. If you’re a better restaurant manager than a chef, get
out of the kitchen. Even Bill Gates stepped out of his CEO role to allow Steve Balmer to
replace him because he felt Balmer was a better face for Microsoft. Chuck Comeau
manages the business that is his pop-rock band Simple Plan which is probably better known
for its frontman Pierre Bouvier. And Chuck? He’s the drummer – which goes to show you
that running your own business doesn’t mean you always have to be the main attraction.

4. Don’t be afraid to do some

grunt work.

Some of my favorite moments in Ramsay’s

Kitchen Nightmares includes Ramsay pulling
the entire restaurant staff to the streets to do some hands-on direct marketing. Often to
rescue a failing reputation in a small town, Ramsay takes the restaurateurs out of their
element and makes them interact with the locals to build good will and to spread the word
that their shop is now in better shape. Sometimes they’re out there asking for second
chances, sometimes they’re just building rapport with local suppliers. Doing this ‘grunt work’
yourself not only adds sincerity and a personal touch to the interaction, but it’s also most
cost-effective. For many small businesses, the owners are the business’ greatest
evangelists. What’s more, they’re free. So for your own businesses, don’t be afraid to get
down and break a sweat by doing some of the hands-on work that you’d likely much rather
outsource.

5. Examine your competition.

Can’t figure out why your business is failing? Take a look at what your successful
competitors are doing. When the owner of Ruby Tate’s, a less-than-sub-par seafood
restaurant, finds his shop sinking (I know, I should write for the show), Ramsey takes him
down the street to a local fish and chip shop. Amazed by the speedy service and fresh
ingredients of the competition, Ruby Tate’s owner begins to see where he’s gone wrong.
Don’t be afraid to do the same – seeing how your competition operates can tell you a lot
about your own strengths and weaknesses.

6. Listen to your customers.

One of the very first things Ramsay does

when tackling a new failing business is to hear
the good, the bad, and the ugly straight from
the source: the customers. He takes the
streets and talks with locals about what
they’ve heard, what their experience has
been, and what would make them go back to
the restaurant in question. This is almost
100% where Ramsay develops his strategy to turn the businesses around. The lesson here
is to listen to what your customers are saying – about your business, about the competition’s
business, and about the industry as a whole. The easiest way to find out how you can better
serve your customers is to let them tell you. Read and follow popular forums and
communities that are relevant to your industry or speak to them directly. Any way you do it,
your customers are sure to provide you with helpful and valuable insight.

7. Know what’s going on in your kitchen.

Whether or not your business has a kitchen, you as a business owner need to have a firm
grasp of the inner workings of your business. This doesn’t mean you need to have your hand
in every aspect, but it means you need to have open communication with your partners and
those you delegate to. Don’t blindly depend on people to get the job done as when things go
wrong, it’ll be too late by the time you realize it. And you won’t always be lucky enough to
have Ramsay walk through your door to help you fix things.

8. Don’t take criticism

personally.

The same thing that makes Ramsay’s Kitchen

Nightmares so entertaining to watch is the
same thing that often infuriates the restaurant
owners and puts a damper on the business’
recovery process (his brutal honesty).
Ramsay is an extreme case and isn’t exactly
your friendly neighborhood anything, but his
less-than-polite vernacular often comes with good intentions and valuable constructive
criticism. So next time a critic comes knocking at your door, forget the fact that they’re talking
about your baby – hear them out and try not to take their words too personally. When you
filter out your personal emotions, you’ll get to the meat of what they’re telling you faster.

9. Don’t be afraid of change.

If you’ve been doing something your way and it isn’t getting you where you want to be, it
may be time to ditch it and try something new. As entrepreneurs, we take great pride in
everything we put into our ventures, but we can’t let our pride stand in the way of improving.
All too often, the restaurant owners are far too hesitant to shed their old habits despite
Ramsay’s greatest efforts. Doing so only hinders their ability to make the necessary changes
to rescue their business from going under. Don’t make the same mistakes they’ve made and
know when it’s time to let go.

10. Don’t give up.

Probably the greatest and most common

piece of advice for anybody running a
business is to never give up. You’ll see
Ramsay preach these words through each
of the episodes, pushing staff and
managers to stay committed to the cause
despite everything going horribly wrong. Running a business isn’t always sunshines and
lollipops and if you bail out at the first sight of obstacles, you’ll never see the fruits of
success. Your greatest successes will come from your greatest failures so long as you
remember to never give up. If not for yourself, do it for your partners and everybody else that
have always supported you.