In 1898 Escoffier and Ritz opened the HÃ tel Ritz in Paris . Ritz and Escoffier were implicated in the disappearance of over Â # 3400 of wine and spirits , and Escoffier had been receiving gifts from the Savoy 's suppliers . By this time , however , Ritz and his colleagues were already on the point of commercial independence , having established the Ritz Hotel Development Company , for which Escoffier set up the kitchens and recruited the chefs , first at the Paris Ritz ( 1898 ) , and then at the new Carlton Hotel in London ( 1899 ) , which soon drew much of the high-society clientele away from the Savoy .