MasterChef semi-finalist sells the Wheatsheaf pub to MasterChef champion

MasterChef 2013 semi-finalist Ollie Hunter has sold the Wheatsheaf pub in Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire to 2020 MasterChef champion, Thomas Frake.

Hunter and his wife Lauren took over the pub in 2015 and have since worked to make sustainability a "big thing” at the venue.

The Wheatsheaf was voted Most Sustainable Business in Britain by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) in 2019 and Best Organic Eat Out by the Soil Association in 2020.

Hunter has also worked as a sustainability consultant for Raithwaite Sandsend hotel in Yorkshire, who won Most Sustainable Business of the Year at the 2021 Cateys.

His next venture is to build a regenerative farm outside of Hastings with a focus on permaculture and mushrooms.

He told The Caterer: “Doing a lot of consultancy and working for schools, we suddenly realised that everything is about the soil and restoring that. Regenerative farming works because of the zero waste element. You can afford better ingredients when you cook zero waste because you’re using everything; most chefs lose about 30% of [what they cook] which means that their value is 30% less.”

Commenting on Frake’s upcoming takeover of the Wheatsheaf, Hunter added: “I thought it was ironic and funny that I was a [MasterChef] semi-finalist and I could pass it onto him as a winner.

"As a brand, it’s good to support people who have not come through the chef environment and who aren’t trained in the bad ways which is waste and throwing things away.”

Frake will be taking over the pub from 22 November and the hotel will remain open during the handover.

He said: “My plan in the very immediate term is to get in there and meet the community, being a local community pub that’s quite important.

"Then from around spring next year, I want to really refine the menu into the food that I’m passionate about, [which is] real great British classics, taking it back to the theme that I established on MasterChef.”

Dishes will be seasonal and include hand-raised pies and slow-cooked ox-cheek with mashed potato and vegetables in the winter months. The menu will also feature cheaper cuts and nose-to-tail cooking.

Hunter had received planning permission for the addition of eight rooms to the pub in 2020.

Frake clarified that he would be “reviewing the planning that was put in” and submit fresh plans to the local authority in future.