Who Owns HexClad? The Founders, Gordon Ramsay and Fox

HexClad is a privately held company founded by Danny Winer and Cole Mecray. Its only confirmed outside shareholders are Gordon Ramsay, who bought in personally in 2021, and Studio Ramsay Global, his production venture with Fox Entertainment, which took a minority stake for $100 million in July 2024.

So who owns HexClad in percentage terms? Nobody has said. The company trades through a Los Angeles entity called One Source to Market, LLC, and none of its owners have disclosed their stakes. Any exact split you see online is a guess.

Who owns HexClad today

Here’s every owner that has been publicly confirmed, and what we actually know about each stake.

The legal owner vs the brand you see

The company behind the pans is One Source to Market, LLC, which does business as HexClad Cookware. That’s the name on court papers, and it’s headquartered in the Arts District of Los Angeles.

Outside the US, the picture gets messier. In Japan the brand sells through HexClad Japan K.K., while the European storefront, hexclad.eu, is listed on review platform Trusted Shops under a company called Brand Access, LLC. How those sellers connect to the LA parent isn’t public.

That matters if you ever need to complain or claim a refund. The brand is global, but the entity you’re dealing with can change depending on where you bought.

How Danny Winer and Cole Mecray built HexClad

HexClad started as a pivot. Winer and Mecray first tried to sell a juicer called JuicePresso direct to consumers, one of the common types of business models HexClad would later use too, and dropped it in 2013, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal (December 2023).

In 2015, on a trip to China, Winer met inventors selling a griddle pan. He partnered with them, redesigned it with a nonstick surface etched in a hexagon pattern, and HexClad launched in 2016.

The early years were lean. Winer told CNBC in September 2023 that bootstrapping the business felt like “financial terror.” No outside investor was announced before Ramsay arrived in 2021.

It worked. The Business Journal ranked HexClad on revenue of $170 million, and company officials projected about $350 million for 2023. Winer remains the public face of the company and was described as CEO by CNBC.

Is Gordon Ramsay an owner of HexClad?

Yes, partly. Bloomberg reported that Ramsay personally acquired a stake in 2021, the same year he became the brand’s best-known spokesman.

Then on July 16, 2024, HexClad announced a $100 million investment from Studio Ramsay Global, Ramsay’s content joint venture with Fox Entertainment. The release called it a minority stake. J.P. Morgan acted as placement agent.

The deal mixed cash with media commitments. In plain terms, part of the “investment” is HexClad getting airtime and product placement across Ramsay’s Fox programming. Bloomberg reported the transaction valued HexClad at roughly $1 billion.

Does Gordon Ramsay still support HexClad?

As of late 2026, yes. HexClad still runs a dedicated Gordon Ramsay page on its site, and 2026 sale coverage, including a Fox News piece in May, still pitches it as his go-to cookware. Neither side has announced a split.

Does Gordon Ramsay actually like HexClad?

He says so, repeatedly and on camera. Nobody outside his kitchens can verify what he cooks on at home.

My take: his praise isn’t independent. Ramsay is a shareholder, and his venture is paid partly in media exposure, so every endorsement also supports the value of his own stake. That’s why Reddit’s cookware forums keep asking why other chefs don’t push back.

How big is Ramsay’s stake? A rough calculation

Nobody has disclosed it, but the 2024 numbers set a ceiling for Studio Ramsay Global’s slice.

If the full $100 million bought shares at a $1 billion post-money valuation, that’s 10%. If $1 billion was the pre-money figure, it’s about 9.1% ($100M ÷ $1.1B). The real number could be lower still, because media commitments are valued by the parties themselves and some of the money may have bought existing shares rather than new ones.

Ramsay’s personal 2021 stake sits on top of that and remains undisclosed. Even combined, there’s no public evidence the Ramsay side controls HexClad. My read is that the founders still hold the larger share, but that is an inference, not a reported fact.

Does a private equity firm own HexClad?

Several ownership write-ups published in 2026 say private equity firm L Catterton holds a minority stake. I couldn’t find any announcement from either company, any filing or any top-tier news report confirming it as of October 2026. HexClad’s own announcements name only Studio Ramsay Global as a strategic investor, so treat the L Catterton claim as unconfirmed.

Funding databases add their own confusion. Here’s how the figures line up.

What is the lawsuit against HexClad?

The main case is Cliburn et al. v. One Source to Market, LLC, filed in California in November 2023 (Case No. 23STCV28390). It alleged HexClad marketed some cookware as “non-toxic” and PFAS-free even though its PTFE nonstick coating belongs to the PFAS chemical family.

HexClad agreed to a $2.5 million settlement covering purchases between February 1, 2022, and March 31, 2024. The court gave preliminary approval in April 2025, and claims closed on November 14, 2025. After a series of fairness hearings, the court reportedly granted final approval on March 9, 2026, and payments to approved claimants reportedly began around May 2026.

As part of the deal, HexClad agreed to stop calling PTFE products “non-toxic,” “PFOA free” or “PFAS free.” Note who was sued: the LLC, not Ramsay or Fox. Minority investors generally aren’t on the hook for the company’s legal liabilities.

FAQ

So when you buy a HexClad pan, your money goes to a founder-led Los Angeles company in which Gordon Ramsay holds equity twice over. That doesn’t make the pans better or worse. It just means his loudest endorsement comes from an owner, and that’s worth knowing before you buy a HexClad pan.