Acorn Awards 2024: Laurissa Cook, 29, restaurant manager and owner, Pignut

Age 29

Position Restaurant manager and owner, Pignut, Helmsley, York

Nominator Cara Houchen, digital marketer, Take a Bite Media, York

Laurissa Cook achieved her ambition to run her own restaurant when she opened Pignut last year with her partner Tom Heywood. It quickly won plaudits, including being awarded two AA rosettes, a recommendation in the Michelin Guide UK & Ireland, achieving ’good’ in the Good Food Guide and ’silver’ with Square Meal.

In line with their ethos of sustainability, the couple are also aiming for a green Michelin star, while on a personal level Cook is working towards a Level 4 qualification with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

She was inspired to start her wine journey when she worked part-time at Andrew Pern’s Star Inn in York. Having caught the hospitality bug, she worked her way up the ranks in the city, becoming restaurant manager at Mr Ps Curious Tavern, and then, in 2019, restaurant manager and sommelier at the Rattle Owl. Here, she grew as a manager, taking charge of team training on wines and cocktails and writing menus.

This experience readied her to run Pignut, where the eight-course tasting menu and intimate 14-seat setting means feedback between staff, chef and diners is important. She gets the best out of the team by encouraging them to taste dishes, try wines, join her when foraging and to learn about operations.

As an owner Cook has become more hands-on in the kitchen, learning how to bake sourdough and prepare mussels, for example, which has made her more adventurous with wine pairings and better informed about the menu when speaking to guests.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in the industry?

"Majken Bech-Bailey – I was blown away when I ate at Aimsir, the two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Kildare, Ireland, that she ran with her partner Jordan Bailey. Sadly, it closed, but they now do pop-ups. She inspired me to open my own restaurant with my partner Tom. Their couple dynamic could be seen in the service and the wine pairings and I hope that same passion and love of the restaurant is seen at Pignut."