A-Z's Aubergine and L'Oranger to reopen
by Christina Golding
A-Z RESTAURANTS, the London restaurant group where 44 staff walked out last week, is telling customers that its L'Oranger restaurant will reopen next month and Aubergine in September.
The dramatic exodus of staff from Aubergine and L'Oranger followed the resignation of Aubergine chef Gordon Ramsay and the sacking of L'Oranger's head chef, Marcus Wareing.
It is estimated that while the two restaurants remain closed A-Z is losing around £15,000 a day in income.
Telephone callers to L'Oranger, which has retained six staff, were being told this week that it would reopen on 15 August. Last week, customers calling Aubergine were given the option to transfer their bookings to Ramsay's new restaurant, but this had changed this week when customers were told that Aubergine would reopen on 11 September. A-Z employees were unable to say who the new chefs will be at either restaurant.
About half the 44 staff that left Aubergine and L'Oranger last week will move to Ramsay's new restaurant, which will be called Gordon Ramsay. The new operation is in the same building as La Tante Claire, Pierre Koffmann's restaurant, which closed this week in preparation for Koffmann's move to the Berkeley Hotel, London.
Ramsay has retained a 10% shareholding in A-Z.