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Hutcheson, Chris (Business Speakers)
Entrepreneur, Businessman & Motivational speaker  Although a successful businessman in his own right for almost 30 years, Chris Hutcheson is probably best known for his extremely successful partnership with his son-in-law, Gordon Ramsay - a partnership in which he has used his considerable business acumen to help move the Ramsay brand from simple restaurant success to global phenomenon.
Born in Forres, in the north of Scotland in 1948, Hutcheson was educated in Wales and London and then Exeter University where he started but did not finish a degree in European Studies. He instead returned to London and enrolled at the London College of Printing. Aged just 22 and armed with an HND in Printing Management, Hutcheson decided not to look for employment but to establish his own business by taking over a small print finishing company, County Trade Finishers. Over the next 25 years he built the operation into the largest display and point of sale print finishing company in the UK. In 1998, he passed the printing business to Adam, the eldest of his four children, and embarked on a new enterprise with the promising young chef who had married his younger daughter, Cayetana, three years earlier. Gordon Ramsay had just left Aubergine, having fallen out with the owners, and was intent on starting his own restaurant. Together they opened Royal Hospital Road in September 1998 to great critical acclaim and within eighteen months it had won two Michelin stars. By 2001 the restaurant had been awarded its third star and remained the only London restaurant to hold this accolade for the next ten years. The partnership of talented chef and astute businessman flourished and a second restaurant, Petrus, opened in 1999. Shortly afterwards, an alliance with investment firm Blackstone, brokered by Hutcheson, saw the business move to a new level and led to the establishment of successful restaurants in Claridge's, The Connaught, The Savoy and The Berkeley, each with accompanying Michelin stars. In 2005 the duo departed from fine dining with the opening of Maze in Grosvenor Square, a brand which they have since taken to New York, Doha and Cape Town. The dynamic partnership of iconic chef and business fixer is not confined to restaurants. A significant proportion of the Ramsay empire income now comes from global book publishing, product endorsements and, most importantly, television contracts in the UK and US with popular programmes such as Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word. In 2010 the 100th episode of Hell's kitchen USA was filmed. Although the name of Ramsay was always the brand, it is the combination of kitchen flair and sound management that has led to the business' phenomenal growth, encompassing restaurants in five continents and the translation of Ramsay's book titles into fourteen languages. With some 40 years at the sharp end of business, Chris Hutcheson has a wealth of experience, wisdom and anecdotes to impart. A practiced presenter and strong motivational speaker, Hutcheson can offer audiences both an insight into how businesses are built and a rare glimpse behind the scenes of one of the UK's currently most successful and controversial brand images. |
