Australia’s newest entrepreneur hopefuls, looking to turn their dreams into reality, will put everything on the line in Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars , a brand-new series for the 9Network, premiering Tuesday, March 26 at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Breaking into the multi-billion-dollar food and beverage industry can be an impossible feat, unless you’re lucky enough to have some big investors behind you.
Global culinary superstar and CEO Gordon Ramsay will be pitted against Australian business mogul Janine Allis. With an investment of $250,000 each, they’re on the hunt for Australia’s most exciting and innovative new food and drink ideas, to mentor and invest in.
Contestants will first pitch their concepts hoping to win a place in the competition and their dream investor. With only 14 spots up for grabs, they will need to put their best foot forward to impress Gordon and Janine for the chance to be selected in one of their teams.
These two teams of driven, ambitious, competitive and creative contestants will then have to fight to survive and compete in various high pressure challenges. The losing team faces an intense grilling from Gordon and Janine where one team member will be eliminated.
Battling it out for their place to the top, they’ll need to prove they have what it takes across all the essential elements of running a successful business including customer service, marketing, sales, branding and event management.
One winning entrepreneur from Gordon & Janine’s teams will take home a cash prize of
$250,000 investment each, as well as a one year mentorship program from either Gordon or Janine as their investor.
Who will have the raw ingredients and what it takes to become Australia’s next Food Star?
This bold and competitive format with Gordon Ramsay, already broadcasting in the UK and US, is produced by Endemol Shine Australia (A Banijay company) and Studio Ramsay Global (a FOX Entertainment company), for the 9Network.
GORDON RAMSAY HOST / INVESTOR
GORDON RAMSAY Q&A
Q. Tell us about the show, your format and idea, and what it means to you?
Food Stars is a competition that highlights the most exciting food and drink ideas in the country that have never been heard of before. There is something pretty incredible about discovering groundbreaking ideas within Australia and sharing them with the world. Food Stars will help elevate Australia’s innovative nature.
Q. What qualities are you looking for in your search for Australia’s next Food Star?
Passion absolutely needs to be front and centre, followed by someone that has drive. In business you also need to be laser-focused. These three key elements are what everyone needs to make a business successful.
Q. After doing this show in the US and UK, what made you want to bring it to Australia?**
Australia has always been a bit of a sleeping beauty for me in terms of the food scene. The restaurants alone were enough of a reason for me to bring Food Stars here. From the east to the west, up to the Northern Territory, the sheer variety of Australia excites me. It was about understanding the breadth of the country and then discovering these businesses and learning about how they function and where they want to go. It has been a fascinating process of discovery.
Q. How do the Aussie entrepreneurs stand up against the UK and US talent?
It was interesting. I think the Aussies compete with more of a British sense of business than an overly commercial style that resides in the US. While I love the freedom the US brings, the Australian ideas feel more grounded and unique. I think comparisons between Australia and the UK are accurate, they are quite similar.
Q. Can you nominate any standout entrepreneurs you encountered during pitching?
It’s a tough one because everyone brought their A game. It’s all well and good to have a business idea or a company that you have gotten off the ground, but getting cross-examined by Janine Allis and myself is no easy feat, let me tell you. I was gobsmacked by one pitch, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it long into the night: one contestant pitched his goal to have a group of restaurants around Australia that served gourmet pies, inside hamburger buns. I love pies and I love hamburgers, but they were never meant to go inside each other. That blew me away. Another big surprise was freeze-dried goats cheese. That was a very cool and exciting idea. There was also a beautifully crafted chilli oil, which is a staple every chef in the world has up their sleeve.
Q. What did you enjoy most about working with Australian business mogul Janine Allis?**
Janine has a prolific head on her shoulders for figures. It’s important to understand just how powerful she is in the marketing world, and her depth of business knowledge is incredible. And while she has a super-glamorous look, the way she dived into the details of each contestant’s business plan was ruthless. What surprised me the most with Janine was that she was absolutely unfazed across any challenge – calm from beginning to middle to end. It was amazing to watch.
Q. What can viewers expect to see on the first Australian season of Food Stars ?
Viewers will be excited to understand what Australia has in terms of food stars. The length and breadth of talent, the A to Z, the smorgasbord of what is being produced. While the series is food-and-drink led, it isn’t chef-orientated, which is a nice change. There is going to be something for everyone to connect to, whether it’s a specific business idea, a contestant, or the creative activations we put together with staple brands such as the Chiko Roll, Vegemite and Cadbury.
Q. The show was filmed in Melbourne, and this has been your longest stint in Australia. What did you enjoy most about your time here?
Five weeks in Melbourne has been a dream. Every time I come here it is normally five days max and then I’m gone. The backdrop of my trip has been the neighbourhood coffee shops, the restaurants and the produce you can’t find outside of Australia. Those are the three jewels in my crown that I will take back on the plane with me and remember forever.
Q. Describe Food Stars in three words.
Future facing dreams. Because these businesses are going to surprise you.
BIO
Scottish-born Gordon Ramsay is internationally renowned, multi-Michelin-starred, and without doubt one of the best known and most influential chefs, restaurateurs, TV stars and social media personalities in the world.
His early years in the kitchen were spent training under renowned chefs such as Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux in London. He later moved to France and worked in the kitchens of culinary legends Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon for three years, where he was able to enhance his expertise in classic French cooking. In 1993, Gordon became Head Chef of the newly opened London restaurant Aubergine, and within three years the restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars.
In 1998, at the age of 31, he set up his own Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea It was awarded three Michelin stars and retains this prestigious rating after three years, the longest of any restaurant in London. In 2006, Ramsay was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the hospitality industry.
Today he has over 50 restaurants worldwide, in the UK, USA, Singapore, France, South Korea,
and United Arab Emirates, and his fine dining restaurants in London and France hold a total of seven Michelin stars. His restaurant brands include Bread Street Kitchen, Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay, Street Pizza, Gordon Ramsay Burger, Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips, and Hell’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon’s TV career began in 1999 when he starred in Boiling Point, a documentary following him during the months following the opening of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Since then he has gone on to star in many other shows, including 20 seasons of Hell’s Kitchen US, 12 seasons of MasterChef US and eight seasons of MasterChef Junior. He is BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated, and today his television shows are on air in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
He is Chairman of the independent production company Studio Ramsay Global. Launched in 2016 to develop and produce a wide range of unscripted television programs for the UK and US, its first production, The F Word, got 4.2 million viewers for the first episode. Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, now in its third series, is broadcast in 172 countries in 43 languages to half a billion homes. In 2022, his studio introduced Fox Network’s Next Level Chef and Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars on BBC One.
Ramsay is one of the most recognised personalities on social media, with over 70 million followers across his platforms. He has over 18 million subscribers on YouTube and a billion video views. He has released 24 books, many becoming bestsellers around the world, including his autobiography, Humble Pie. His latest cookery book, Ramsay in 10, showcases 100 recipes that can be cooked in 10 minutes or less, alongside the successful YouTube series. He has sold over 10 million books worldwide.
In 2017, Gordon became a Masterclass Instructor, launching Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking, and in 2019 became the first Masterclass chef to produce a second series. This hugely successful program is filmed in his home kitchen, where he teaches everything from kitchen setup and how to use the freshest ingredients for your everyday family meals to making unforgettable dishes to impress your guests.
In 2021, his premier alcohol brand, Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Seltzer, was launched in the US, and later that year Gordon Ramsay Wine, The Italian Collection, in the UK.
That year he also opened the Gordon Ramsay Academy, in the UK. With multiple kitchens and a large demonstration room upstairs, the academy is set up for a real hands-on experience in every class. It’s where his passion to share his love for food and cooking was brought to life, offering guests of all ages and levels of cooking ability the chance to enjoy fun, relaxed and informative classes.
Gordon and his wife Tana have been ambassadors for Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland for over 20 years, and in 2015 founded the Gordon & Tana Ramsay Foundation. They work with the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, which is close to their hearts, and host a number of teams and annual sporting fundraising events, such as the London Triathlon and the GTR Velodrome Challenge.
Gordon, Tana, and their children Megan, Holly, Jack, Matilda and Oscar split their time between their homes in London, Cornwall and LA.
JANINE ALLIS HOST / INVESTOR
Janine Allis founded Boost Juice Bars in 2000 and now has over 660 stores in more than 12 countries, making it the largest juice bar in the southern hemisphere.
In 2007, Janine and her husband Jeff created Retail Zoo, a worldwide community of business owners to help grow young food retail brands, using their expertise and solid back end through a model of supportive business franchise systems. Since its inception, three brands, Salsa’s Fresh Mex Grill, CIBO Espresso and Betty’s Burgers & Concrete Co, have joined and continue to grow year on year. Retail Zoo now has over 650 stores under its banner.
Janine is among Australia’s most respected people in business, having been presented with numerous domestic and international awards in marketing, retail, franchise and business, including a Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award. Business magazine BRW named her one of 15 people who changed the way Australia does business in the past 35 years.
Janine is the author of The Accidental Entrepreneur, a bestseller, and a Director of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) and Kogan.com.
Allis recently featured as an adviser on Channel 9’s Celebrity Apprentice Australia alongside CEO Lord Alan Sugar and Nick Bell. She has also appeared on the Network Ten shows Shark Tank and Australian Survivor, and currently co-hosts her own podcast, Superwomen We Ain’t.
She is an ambassador for Australia for UNHCR, taking interest in the Leading Women Fund empowering women, building their resilience, and providing opportunities for them to realise their potential.
Based in Sydney, Janine is a mother of four and an advocate for a healthy lifestyle, striving every day to live the best life possible.
