Gordon Ramsay: Kitchen Nightmares

Gordon Ramsay said it plainly: "Now that I have broadened my horizons, I think back to those amazing magical moments on a boat without a pot to piss in …" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

Chef Gordon Ramsay, O.B.E. — Executive Producer and Head Chef of Kitchen Nightmares — returns to FOX on Friday, September 23rd at 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central. Known for Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, The F Word, Gordon's Great Escape, Ramsay's Best Restaurants, and Christmas with Gordon, Ramsay spoke with Premier Guide Miami's Daedrian McNaughton ahead of the new season.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: You are late...

GORDON RAMSAY: My apologies for being late. I'm officially nine minutes late and that was my fault completely. As you know, nine minutes turning up for a table in a restaurant — nine minutes late — you throw the kitchen off. I should know better than anybody, but thanks for your patience.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Are you tired of giving chances or second chances to these restaurant owners?

GORDON RAMSAY: A good question. Do you know what — I am getting tired of giving second chances, but they're part of the issues that are taking place on a daily basis, and that's to do with the economy. So it's getting harder to be patient, to be honest. I'm still trying to open new restaurants as well at the same time, so you're right.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Do they deserve second chances?

GORDON RAMSAY: When they are arrogant, obnoxious, and they're not prepared to listen — and they want to cook for themselves as opposed to the customers — then, yes, I won't give anyone a second or a third chance. But there are some sort of prissy, distraught, upsetting and emotional circumstances this year. I think it's been a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What gets left out of the show?

GORDON RAMSAY: I'm obviously the executive producer and we have an amazing team here. It's a dynamic team — I think it's the fourth or fifth season. I love the style of the documentary aspect from the BBC versions in the U.K., so I don't like that jumping around pace. I like it quite in depth. I think there's quite a lot of stuff being left out — not drama, but things like the relaunch when we have special marketing exercises that we put together and we get the community involved. It's not just where I cook, but it's not a cooking show, so that's the awkward part. If there's one criticism I've always had, it's that people want to see you cook more. We completely revamp the menu from 25 to 35 dishes. My team is in the kitchen about half past 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning. We're there until the early hours. We can't show that because it's the proper preparations — a complete overhaul from an organization to a complete rip-out of all the fridges. We reposition everything, set up for success. We almost land it in their laps and give it to them on a plate, and what I want them to do is cook it, finish it, send it, and fall in love with it.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Have you ever second-guessed yourself on any of your decisions in the past?

GORDON RAMSAY: Second guess — good question, a really good question. I act on impulse and I go with my instincts. I've had a lot of success; I've had failures, so I learn from the failure. I talk about it. I can share that stuff. I suppose I'm 44 years of age and I shoot from the hip. I have to get straight to the truth — it's not because we're panicking and we're not there for ten days. In the U.K. versions, we're there for nine, ten days at a time. Here, we're there for a week, and because of the work that goes into that week — the research from every critic to every article to the opening night, the first six months, the financial implications — we turn it upside down. I really get straight off, so I never second guess it. I go for it straight away.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Was Blackberry important?

GORDON RAMSAY: Blackberry for me was pretty significant. Its nightmare started seven years ago — a full-proof restaurant called The Sultry Shack, run by a major called Streeter Jones. When we did our first ever Kitchen Nightmares in Britain on the south coast of England, it went on to win the biggest award it could possibly win. So I walked in there with a love of soul food and being in amongst that sort of neighborhood — that's how I grew up. We didn't have anything near as glamorous. It was a hard-working, blue-collar neighborhood and minimum-wage living. The mom and dad were out all day and you got home from school and you had your tea. No one left anything and you loved eating out as a treat once a month if you were lucky. So I was really excited about what was the Sultry Restaurant.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Were you excited about the owner?

GORDON RAMSAY: What I wasn't excited about was the owner. Her mother was an absolutely free heart. Her boyfriend was young but he understood the importance of change. She was in denial in a way, so we butted heads. I didn't argue — I just sort of left her to her own devices. And the confusing part is that when the rest of them are working, these outlets lean towards catering, which is completely different from running a restaurant. I had a big battle with her to try to get her to understand that there's a massive difference, a huge leap, between dining and catering. She didn't get it. It was a first for me. Here I am in a soul food restaurant, a friendly neighborhood, rough and tumble — and there's a Chinese wok in the kitchen. I mean, come on! A Chinese wok in a soul food restaurant?

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What was the big concern?

GORDON RAMSAY: The big concern was the pizza oven! It was almost like they were putting these things in there to rattle me. Let's wind him up. Okay, let's get the English big shouty man upset. Let's put a Chinese wok in our soul restaurant and let's put in a pizza oven. Let's really piss him off.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Do you think you are very good at picking talent?

GORDON RAMSAY: I'm not very good at spotting talent, and I try to when I see the hunger in their eyes. We all have opportunities in life and nothing gets given to anyone on a plate, so I'm very grateful for Ruth kicking my ass and sending me to France. I'm very grateful for Marco White. The whole thing is a springboard. You need that one little break and then you're on the track to success if you stay on it.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: In your many years in the industry, have you come across any gems?

GORDON RAMSAY: Yes. I found one guy in a Greek restaurant this year who was almost constantly shot down by his dad — in his eyes, he could never step up to the plate. This guy ran the service like we never expected. He was almost becoming a bit of a go-for for his dad and never really had an identity, so the staff in that restaurant didn't take him seriously. I'd never seen anyone run a hot plate and coordinate a kitchen and multi-task the way he did. He just snapped into it, almost like he'd been trained for six months to gear up for that one night. It was an amazing thing to see. But we come across these little gems and they are few and far between. I can't put money into these restaurants because that's a production thing. I can't be seen to favor one. But we are asked all the time — will you leave with me, can you take me? It's hard. There's so much more politics and tough love. Like I said, after 48 hours they can't stand you. But then when you start showing them the change and the difference, all of a sudden they start coming to your side. And then you go out on a high. But it's a bumpy road.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: A lot of these small restaurants are afraid to take criticism and move forward to grow their businesses. How do you deal with situations like that?

GORDON RAMSAY: The corporate is always going to survive because they have the cash flow and the bigger picture with 20, 30 restaurants. The family-run businesses have been hit harder than ever before and that's pretty evident. But I found an amazing restaurant in LA — very good restaurant that opened to huge success. And then the son didn't want to put all the money in, and then his father started fighting with the help. Taking criticism is only going to make you better. Unfortunately a lot of these owners shut their doors because what they believe is better than what people know is better — they don't take it on board, and that's a great shame.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What have you learned from the many contestants who have been on your shows?

GORDON RAMSAY: I've learned things — to find only chefs that put small portions on plates and charge a fortune. It's been a 25-year journey to get there. You don't just jump into fine dining because you have a vision from a bistro-style environment. What I've learned more than anything is the research that goes into the ethnic restaurants. I just recently came back from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand. I went to live with a family in Vietnam. I spent a week in a cooking school where you pay the family to stay and we went up into the mountains and you just watch and be their skivvy. No dairy, no cream, no butter, buying produce fresh twice a day, going to local markets or the local fisher — it was just amazing. I think every chef in the country should cook for a month with no dairy. You'll surprise yourself.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What is your advice to a first-time restaurant owner?

GORDON RAMSAY: We've just come across another restaurant in Atlanta where the owner completed culinary school May 20th and then straight from culinary school jumped into opening a restaurant. I can't think of anything more dangerous. Cooking is like going to law school or becoming a doctor. There's a 10 to 14 year apprenticeship that you have to go through to understand the balance, the vision, and your craft. There are never two days the same in any restaurant. It's an exciting journey, but you have to do the homework. You have to do the craft. It doesn't just happen because you have a grade one from culinary school. Find a second language, understand what the restaurant means in that neighborhood, and forget styles, accolades, books, TV. Forget that and just focus on knowledge.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Do you often look back on your experiences that helped to develop your craft?

GORDON RAMSAY: Yes. I look at the different insights now — the India experience two years ago, the Vietnamese experience, my two years in France. Spain, I lived there for nine months. Italy for seven months. And it's all helping now. So I didn't have the time, and now that I have broadened my horizons, I think back to those amazing magical moments on a boat without a pot to piss in — just buying fresh fish off the coast of Sardinia and then learning how to make the most amazing polenta properly done with staff.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: After doing this for several seasons, what is the common difficulty or problem for these restaurants?

GORDON RAMSAY: Most of them become static. They forget to fight to move on. They get there and they open. They trade, but then — unknown to them — they're in a time warp from the first minute that door opened. The biggest problem is they get comfortable and then they forget to fight. They forget that everything has to evolve. You don't need to go fine-dining crazy, but you need to work up with new ideas. The staff is going to be inspired. And so they get complacent because they think that they have a restaurant, but they don't understand what's opened within a five-mile radius. And that is something they need to know on a daily basis.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What is the secret to making it work?

GORDON RAMSAY: The secret of any successful business in a restaurant is staying in front of your customers and moving on. The secret is to stay in front of your customers because once you've opened these businesses you're in it — the only way you can improve is by going and eating out. I always say: once the restaurant is open, check out the reviews. Find what's hot, find what's just opened, and then look for the worst review of the week in any restaurant and get there. There is so much to learn from watching a restaurant getting absolutely panned and having a bad experience. Go and see it for yourself. Within six months, 12 months, you can become old hat, depending on the energy inside those four walls.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Is there anything we'll see this season that we've never seen in seasons past?

GORDON RAMSAY: More than ever before, there's a whole team behind me and they have a couple days prep at the restaurants before I get there, and a couple days prep after I leave. We bring in an infrastructure and we really focus on what are the most important elements to get that restaurant back. Sometimes the restaurants this year have been beautiful in terms of interior and décor, family run, but the segmentation that's taken place is more visible than ever before this year. And then I was greeted with a huge mouse coming through one of the doors. Now I've had a lot of flack in my time, but I've never been greeted by a mouse in the door of a restaurant. And the shock of the fact that I walked in there — and then they accused me of bringing it in. Me bringing my own mouse to plant in the restaurant before helping them? Come on!

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