Turnaround Chefs

What does it take to turn a company around? While many books have been published on the broader topic of organizational change, a book bridging theory and practice of organizational turnarounds was lacking. With this book we fill this gap by scientifically analyzing Gordon Ramsay's turnarounds from the Kitchen Nightmares series (UK and US). The book mixes well-founded organizational and psychological theories with practical examples from the Kitchen Nightmares series thus presenting the reader both the science and the tools of turnaround management.

Turnaround Chefs develops a recipe for change management through an analysis of Gordon Ramsay’s behaviour in the reality TV-show ‘Kitchen Nightmares’. Using the scientific methodology of grounded theory, the authors distil the key principles and techniques applied to transform ‘ego playgrounds’ and ‘hygienic death traps’ into vibrant, healthy, prosperous, and profitable businesses. The principles and techniques uncovered in the text are explained by linking them to existing academic theories. Moreover, quotes and examples are used to make the principles and techniques applicable to other management domains. By scientifically analyzing freely available data encapsulated in the episodes of this highly entertaining reality TV-show, Turnaround Chefs introduces a novel approach to the scientific community, and uncovers a plethora of data in the process. Furthermore, by connecting science to entertainment, the book bridges part of the gap between the theory and practice of management, while stretching the concept of ‘edutainment’. On the one hand, decomposing Gordon’s behavior into key principles and techniques greatly increases the educational value of the TV-show. On the other hand, using the TV-show as an educational tool significantly increases the pleasure of learning. To summarize, Turnaround Chefs is an easy to read and entertaining book combined with key insights in the management of change.

Arjan van den Born is professor of entrepreneurship and creativity at Tilburg University. He acts as the director of the Creativity Entrepreneurship Lab. His academic research mainly concerns entrepreneurship, creativity, networks, communities and organizational change. He has published various international refereed articles and various books.