Wright quits after clash with AA boss
Simon Wright has resigned as editor of the AA Restaurant Guide.
His decision came after AA managing director Roger Wood overruled the guide's professional inspectors and refused to allow the London restaurant Pétrus to be upgraded. Wright said it had become "ethically impossible" for him to stay in the job.
Wood decided that Pétrus was not to be promoted from four rosettes to the maximum five in the 2003 edition of the guide.
Wood worked for utilities firm Centrica, the holding company of the AA, and was appointed managing director of the AA in January. He has no training in assessing food for rosettes and is not an inspector.
His ruling on Pétrus went against the views of trained, qualified AA inspectors including David Young, chief hotel and restaurant inspector.
Wright said he had "absolutely no doubt that without Roger Wood's intervention Pétrus would have been awarded five rosettes in the 2003 AA Restaurant Guide".
He added: "The whole integrity of the Restaurant Guide and the rosette scheme has been built upon the use of trained inspectors applying consistent criteria.
"I cannot accept that Roger Wood is qualified to make this decision and to remain as editor would put me in the impossible position of defending a rating that does not reflect the views of our inspectors."
He leaves on 7 August after almost two years as editor.
Pétrus, Restaurant of the Year for England in the AA's 2002 Restaurant Guide, is owned by chef-patron Marcus Wareing and his business partner Gordon Ramsay.
Chris Hutcheson, chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, was furious to hear that Pétrus had been denied five rosettes and was this week considering withdrawing Ramsay's four restaurants from the guide.
They are: Pétrus, Gordon Ramsay and Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, in London, and Amaryllis in Glasgow.
Wareing said he felt he had been robbed by Wood. He added: "This is absolutely disgusting. I spent four years working for this and for some individual to take this from me is robbery."
The decision to veto the upgrading of Pétrus in next year's guide stemmed from a visit Wood made to the restaurant in March, before a planned dinner. He described it as an "expensive poseur's restaurant", and cancelled that booking.
He then claimed he ate at Pétrus on two occasions and, following the alleged second visit, made it clear that Pétrus would not receive an increase in rosettes.
Wood then demanded a review of the process for selecting Restaurants of the Year.
Wood was unavailable for comment but an AA spokesman said on his behalf: "Roger Wood's view was one of many taken into account when the AA made its decision about rosettes for 2003."
by Louise Bozec and Amanda Afiya
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 25 - 31 July 2002
