Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has relocated his North American restaurant headquarters from California to Texas. With the move, the TV host from Hell’s Kitchen hired a team of businesspeople and chefs to dramatically expand his restaurant empire across North America.
In 2022, the team in Las Colinas has plans to open 18 restaurants in cities like Boston, Miami and Chicago. In the next five years, CEO Norman Abdallah says he’ll oversee the debut of 75 company-owned restaurants.
Advertisem*nt
Some of the expansion will be in Dallas-Fort Worth: Street Pizza, a restaurant from London, and Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips, which originated in Las Vegas, are both a fit for North Texas someday, Abdallah says. And after new restaurant Ramsay Kitchen launches in Boston, it may come to D-FW, too.
The Dallas restaurants likely won’t open until late 2022 or 2023, however. Abdallah’s focus, for now, is up and down the East Coast and in Chicago.
“We want to be very careful not to dilute the brand, and the brand is Gordon,” Abdallah says.
Advertisem*nt
He gives Hell’s Kitchen as an example: The one and only restaurant made famous by the TV show is in Vegas. With Abdallah’s help, Hell’s Kitchens will open in several more cities — maybe Miami, Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.
Restaurant News
Get the scoop on the latest openings, closings, and where and what to eat and drink.
Or with:
By signing up you agree to ourTerms of ServiceandPrivacy Policy
“You don’t want to go throwing up a bunch of restaurants all over the place,” he says.
The same growth mindset will be used for Lucky Cat, an Asian restaurant in London that Abdallah describes as one of Ramsay’s most special brands. It’ll grow to five or so restaurants, he says, and Dallas might be included.
Advertisem*nt
Notably, the company in Las Colinas is focused on restaurant growth only. The studios that produce Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, Uncharted and a 2022 Fox series called Next Level Chef remain separate.
Is Gordon Ramsay moving to Texas?
Despite high-profile people like Joe Rogan and Elon Musk taking up residence in Texas, the new Gordon Ramsay North America restaurant headquarters in D-FW does not signal that the British chef is moving to the Lone Star State.
His restaurant company is operated by Texas talent, however.
CEO Abdallah has opened thousands of restaurants over his 45 years in the industry. His first job was as a dishwasher at his parents’ restaurant, Monday’s Soup and Sandwich in Waxahachie. He’s better known as the former vice president for worldwide franchise of Chili’s Grill & Bar — a job that began with a manager role at a Chili’s in Dallas in the 1980s.
Advertisem*nt
Abdallah was most recently former CEO of Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group.
Advertisem*nt
Abdallah retired in 2019, then bought a sports fishing boat and a house in Costa Rica. “But I suck at retirement,” he says. “I love the industry too much.”
He was courted for the CEO job growing Ramsay’s restaurants and was enticed by the opportunity: Lion Capital had acquired a 50% stake in Ramsay’s company in 2019. Abdallah believes the combination of a private equity group with a celebrity chef could mean big success.
Since January 2021, Abdallah has hired a team of chefs, including several from Hell’s Kitchen. The headquarters has been in Texas since early 2021.
Advertisem*nt
Michelle Tribble, third-place winner on Hell’s Kitchen season 14 and winner of season 17, is the new executive chef of culinary development.
She’s an Oak Cliff-born Dallasite who studied pastry, culinary and hospitality at El Centro College before getting a bachelor’s degree in food science and food service management from Texas Woman’s University.
“I grew up watching Julia Child, Jacques Pépin and Emeril [Lagassé],” Tribble says. “I’ve always wanted to be a chef.”
Advertisem*nt
She found herself watching Hell’s Kitchen during a rare moment of downtime after work at Five Sixty, Wolfgang Puck’s now-closed restaurant at the top of Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas. The show advertised a casting call two days later in Dallas. That one audition changed her professional life.
After two seasons on the reality cooking show and winning a $250,000 prize, Tribble became the executive chef of Hell’s Kitchen in Vegas in 2017.
She was a natural fit to develop menus back home in Texas, Abdallah says, working again for the chef who made her famous.
“This is my dream job,” Tribble says.
Advertisem*nt
Another leader of the North Texas team, Christina Wilson, was the winner of Hell’s Kitchen season 10. Together, Wilson and Tribble will create menus for new and evolving Ramsay restaurants.
Why Dallas-Fort Worth, why now?
Dozens of restaurant companies are based in Dallas-Fort Worth, including some of the nation’s biggest, like Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, Pei Wei Asian Diner, Dickey’s Barbecue and Chili’s.
Advertisem*nt
The saying goes something like this: “If you can make it in Dallas, you can make it anywhere,” Abdallah says.
He believes Dallas is the best place to find chef and restaurant support talent. Gordon Ramsay North America has a temporary test kitchen inside Dallas College’s Culinary, Pastry and Hospitality facility in North Dallas — a place turning out chefs who are are trained to work in fine dining restaurants and are likely looking for work.
Abdallah and Ramsay were also enticed by the tax benefits in Texas. Plus, “the cost of living adjustment [from California to Texas] is pretty substantial,” Abdallah says.
Gordon Ramsay North America joins other major corporations that have left California for Texas. Among them: Toyota’s North American headquarters, McKesson Corp., Charles Schwab & Co. and CBRE.
Advertisem*nt
