Top 100: Marcus Wareing, Marcus Wareing Restaurants

Overall ranking: 36 (47 in 2012)
Chef ranking: 8 (12 in 2012)

Snapshot Marcus Wareing is one of the most respected food technicians of his era. A protégé of Gordon Ramsay, he opened several restaurants in partnership with the celebrity chef before going on to create his own empire of restaurants with his wife, Jane. Today, his restaurant group includes the two-Michelin-starred Marcus at the Berkeley in Knightsbridge, the Gilbert Scott at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London, and Tredwells in Covent Garden, which serves contemporary British food in a casual environment. He has published seven cookbooks and has been a regular fixture on our television screens since 2014 after joining MasterChef: The Professionals as a judge and mentor.

What we think

The son of a fruit and vegetable merchant, Marcus Wareing was born in Southport, up the coast from Liverpool, in 1970. After graduating from Southport Catering College, he headed to London, aged 18, where he took on the role of commis chef at the Savoy. After a couple of years, he went to work with the legendary Albert Roux at Le Gavroche and there he met fellow chef Gordon Ramsay.

During the early 1990s, Wareing refined his knowledge of classic French recipes while working at several leading properties, including the Grand hotel in Amsterdam (with Roux) and Gravetye Manor near East Grinstead in West Sussex, where he met his future wife.

In 1993, he became Ramsay's sous chef for the launch of the TV chef's new venture, Aubergine, in Chelsea. Two years later, Wareing took a break from Aubergine, winning the Restaurant Association 1995 Young Chef of the Year title and heading off to work alongside Daniel Boulud in New York and Guy Savoy in Paris. In 1996, he returned to the UK to become head chef of A-Z Restaurants' new London eatery, L'Oranger, a business in which he and Ramsay both held a stake. A year later he was awarded his first Michelin star.

He left L'Oranger in 1998 following a row with the company over proposed four-year contracts and non-payment of money from his 10% stake. He soon bounced back in 1999 as chef-patron of Pétrus, owned by Ramsay's new company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings. Pétrus opened in St James's Street, London, just up the road from L'Oranger, and within seven months had scooped a Michelin star as well as the AA's ultimate accolade of five rosettes.

In May 2008, following months of rumour, the Berkeley hotel confirmed it intended to work directly with Wareing to launch its own restaurant, and he took on the lease in September, retaining the site’s two Michelin stars. In May 2011, he opened the Gilbert Scott, an English brasserie in the St Pancras Renaissance, followed by the launch in 2014 of Tredwells in Seven Dials in partnership with his director of operations, Chantelle Nicholson, who is also the restaurant’s chef-patron. The following year, Tredwells won Best New Restaurant â€" London at the AA Hospitality Awards.

In March 2017, he appointed husband-and-wife team Mark and Shauna Froydenlund as joint chef-patrons of Marcus, telling The Caterer: “It fills me with immense pleasure to provide business opportunities for the most talented people in my company, to help build their future and help them achieve their goals.”

Wareing’s precise cuisine can be found well beyond the walls of his restaurants. He won through to the final of BBC TV’s Great British Menu in 2006, cooking his egg custard tart with garibaldi biscuits for the Queen’s 80^th birthday banquet, and he went on to be one of the programme’s toughest veteran judges. In 2014 he replaced Michel Roux Jr as a judge and mentor on MasterChef: The Professionals.

His presence has also been felt on the big screen. In 2015, he was a consultant for the film Burnt, whose protagonist was a chef who would stop at nothing in his pursuit of three Michelin stars.

Further information
Shauna and Mark Froydenlund appointed joint chef-patrons of Marcus >>

Chantelle Nicholson promoted to chef-patron at Tredwells >>

Burnt: Marcus Wareing on teaching Bradley Cooper how to act like a chef >>