Gordon Ramsay has suspended his head chef at the Maze Grill in London over claims he “went ballistic and screamed obscenities” at a waiter.
Matt Bishop, 34, was told not to return to work at the Mayfair steak house, while Ramsay’s company carries out an investigation, the Sunday Mirror said.
This may seem a trifle hypocritical given Ramsay’s reputation for giving chefs and serving staff the hair-dryer treatment, but apparently he “takes all complaints about any bad behaviour in his kitchens very seriously,” the paper quoted a close source as saying.
Bishop – who said in a recent interview that “cooking is my absolute everything” and even has a mise-en-place prep list tattooed on his body – allegedly ripped into the waiter for taking food to the wrong table.
“The mistake meant the food had gone cold and the chef would have to cook the dish again,” a kitchen insider told the paper. “It’s claimed the chef went ballistic and screamed a string of obscenities at the waiter in front of the whole kitchen.
“The guy was really upset. When Ramsay and his management heard the allegations of what was said, they decided to suspend the chef.”
Bishop (above) is a rising star in Ramsay’s crumbling restaurant empire and spent 18 months working at his Conrad Tokyo eatery in Japan. He returned to work as sous chef at Maze, and became head chef at Maze Grill when it opened three years ago.
Before that, he worked as a commis chef at Marco Pierre White’s Criterion, and later at City Rhodes, Pont de la Tour, Greenhouse, Odettes and Chez Max.
A spokesman for Gordon Ramsay Holdings said: “We do not publicly comment on individual human resources issues.”
Last week, Ramsay put Maze and Maze Grill – in Melbourne, Australia, into liquidation, blaming the crisis on the change in management since the departure of his father-in-law, Christopher Hutcheson, who was axed as chief executive in October last year.
“We have concluded that the business is not sustainable. Unfortunately, this course has become the only option as it is essential to focus on the health of the wider group,” a spokesman said.