廚神難當

廚神難當

還記得《地獄廚房》里面那個脾氣火爆、滿嘴F打頭、常常把選手罵到哭的頂級廚神戈登·拉姆齊（Gordon Ramsay）嗎？他的米其林三星餐廳盡管味道不用說，但是大廚還是得拿出自己的主持賺錢來補貼餐廳。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

put into administration 接管

pre-tax losses 稅前損失

expansion 闡述；擴張物[?k'sp?n?(?)n; ek-]

depreciation 折舊；貶值[d?,pri???'e??(?)n; -s?'e?-]

amortization 阻尼；分期償還[?,m??ta?'ze???n]

eatery 小飯館['i?t?r?]

merit 優(yōu)點，價值['mer?t]

閱讀即將開始，建議您計算一下閱讀整篇文章所用時間，并對照我們在文章最后給出的參考值來估算您的閱讀速度。

Gordon Ramsay restaurants expect return to profit next year（360words）

By Paul McClean

* * *

The Gordon Ramsay Group of restaurants is aiming to return to profit next year after several years of losses as a turnround starts to pay off.

The group, which includes 29 restaurants sharing six Michelin stars, struggled after the 2008 financial crisis, which chief executive Stuart Gillies admits “almost killed us”. Accountants were drawing up plans to put the company into administration, but it underwent a strategic review following the appointment of Mr Gillies in 2011, and its losses have fallen steadily since.

Pre-tax losses fell from ￡6.4m in 2013 to ￡2m in 2014, and accounts published on Tuesday showed losses fell again to ￡0.7m in the 12 months to September 2015. Mr Gillies remained confident that the company would be in profit by next year.

Gordon Ramsay Group said it was planning to open its first UK restaurants outside London, with potential sites in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham as it sought to exploit “enormous opportunities for expansion both in the UK and around the world”.

Sales grew 12.6 per cent to ￡50.3m in 2015 after the group opened restaurants in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 41 per cent to ￡5.7m.

The restaurant group reported a near 90 per cent fall in pre-tax profits in 2009 and Gordon Ramsay and Chris Hutcheson, his father-in-law, injected ￡5m of their own money into the business to avoid administration.

The company “debranded” its restaurants as part of its turnround plan, removing Mr Ramsay’s name from the eateries “so that the teams running the restaurants could put up blinkers and focus on the DNA of each individual operation,” added Mr Gillies.

“It was a sensitive conversation when we asked Gordon to take his name off [some restaurants], but it was a move he completely agreed with. It meant we were focused on delivering quality food that would be judged solely on its merit, and not because of a wave of reputation that went with it,” said Mr Gillies.

The chief executive said the “spend per head” was much higher before the financial crisis.

“But after 2008, expense accounts changed and it became ugly to spend that amount of money on a meal. We sharpened the focus, so it wasn’t about Gordon but about the market trends and needs,” he said.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內容，完成以下自測題目：

1. How about Gordon Ramsay restaurants’ financial situation in the past several years?

a. a slight profit

b. lots of earnings

c. balance of payments

d. heavy losses

2. When was the group hit so hard?

a. 2008

b. 2015

c. 2013

d. 2014

3. Where can you find Gordon Ramsay restaurants in UK now?

a. Manchester

b. Leeds

c. London

d. Birmingham

4. Why the group asked Gordon to take his name off some restaurants?

a. the market trends

b. food can be judged solely

c. request from his father-in-law

d. Gordon was quit

[1] 答案d. heavy losses

解釋：文章講預計明年可以逆轉財務狀況實現(xiàn)盈利，可知前幾年是虧損的。

[2] 答案a. 2008

解釋：2008年的經濟危機對餐廳的打擊很大，危機后餐廳的人均消費減少。

[3] 答案c. London

解釋：集團計劃在英國開第一家倫敦以外的餐廳，所以目前只有在倫敦可以找到。

[4] 答案b. food can be judged solely

解釋：這樣做的目的是讓食客通過食品品質做評判，而不是Gordon的個人聲望。