Who Are The Biggest Chefs In The Business World?

Anecdotally speaking, I’m told that the restaurant business is the most difficult business on earth (in terms of the success to failure rate).  I’ve also heard that the average Saturday night dinner service in NYC is as hectic and stressful as a full week of work for everyone else.  I’m a stockbroker, so of course I know that’s nonsense, but still, I can imagine how tough owning and running a restaurant could be.

With that in mind, I thought I’d show you something really interesting that Grub Street (NY Mag) put together, a list of the 20 most successful chef empires in the world.  These are guys who are balancing cooking, media appearances and big business at the same time, in some cases, around the world.

Here’s number one, predictably:

#1 Gordon Ramsay		Restaurants	TV Shows	Cookbooks	Misc.	Score
		27	5	17	10	167
		(x4)	(x3)	(x2)	(x1)

With both the most restaurants and starring roles on TV, it’s not surprising that Gordon Ramsay has gobbled the most points. Overextension has its limits: To stave off bankruptcy this summer, he cut costs by slashing staff by 15 percent and rescinding ownership of hotel restaurants in L.A. and Paris.

 

Good for Gordon, I like that guy on TV, even if his joints in both LA and NYC were nothing special when I ate at them.

Visit Grub Street for the rest of the list, all your faves from Batali to Puck are on there.

The Twenty Biggest Chef Empires (GrubStreet)