Gordon Ramsay laid 500 staff members off over coronavirus fears (Picture: Getty)

Gordon Ramsay has not spoken to his staff members after laying more than 500 people off over coronavirus fears.

The celebrity chef was forced to briefly shut down a string of his restaurants due to the global health scare.

People learnt their contracts would be terminated during a meeting at Heddon Street Kitchen – with many reportedly left in tears over the news.

However, speaking to Metro.co.uk, chef de partie Anca-Cosmina Toropu revealed that staff members haven’t heard a word from the 53-year-old since they were let go.


‘We had a meeting on Friday in Heddon Street Kitchen where they’ve told us that our contracts [were] terminated,’ she said.



‘They said that because of the situation they have to close the restaurants and terminate all our contracts.’

Gordon ‘still hasn’t spoken to staff members’ since making the cuts (Picture: Getty)

Anca – who has worked for Gordon since April, 2018 – also told us he didn’t let them know about the situation himself, instead sending a director to break the news.

‘People were sad and disappointed,’ she continued. ‘Gordon was not there.

‘If he would have been there, that would have changed the situation. He would have shown that he cares, but that did [not] happen.

‘He just sent one of his directors who was affected (emotionally) by the situation as well.’

While Gordon might not have spoken to his staff directly, he heaped praise on them in a statement on Instagram.

‘To all our Gordon Ramsay family, friends and colleagues,’ his post read. ‘In this time of great uncertainty, we hope that you all are looking out for each other and staying as safe as possible.

‘As the situation changes daily our focus has to be on the health and safety of our employees, guests and community and to do our part in slowing the spread of the virus, from Saturday 21 March 2020, all our restaurants will temporarily close.

‘Whilst we don’t know when we will re-open, what we do know is by supporting each other through this terribly challenging time, we will come through this stronger than ever!

‘Huge love and thanks to our amazing staff across the restaurants for all their passion and support,’ he concluded.

’I truly hope we are all back together very soon.’

However, Anca revealed this post didn’t go down well with the rest of her colleagues, admitting that they ‘felt like social media was more important than us’.

The former Bread Street Kitchen employee also lashed out at her former boss on social media, claiming he treated staff like ‘pieces of s**t’.

Anca lashed out at the celebrity chef on social media (Picture: Facebook)

‘Such a shame to see how the company that you worked for and gave everything you had for 2 years throw you away like you are nothing but a little piece of s***, specially in difficult times like this even though they have absolutely nothing to lose by keeping you,’ she fumed.

‘And I’m not taking about one person here, over 500 people lost their jobs yesterday so all I can say is thank you @gordongram @gordonramsayrestaurants I hope you sleep well at night knowing that so many people doesn’t have a job in this difficult time because of you.’



A spokesman for Gordon Ramsay Restaurants previously shared a statement about the closures to MailOnline, which read: ‘Gordon Ramsay Restaurants is continuing to work tirelessly in exceptional, unprecedented, global circumstances to ensure that as many employees as possible are being retained by the business.

‘We are no different from any other restaurant/retail business large and small in the UK and around the world responding to the current crisis.

‘We welcome greatly and fully support all the initiatives introduced by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in particular the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which is still being refined.

‘We continue to work closely with our landlords, government agencies and all third party suppliers associated with the business through these very challenging times.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Gordon’s reps for a comment.

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