Overall ranking: 72 (50)
Chef ranking: 16 (16)
Gary Rhodes - Snapshot
Gary Rhodes is the Michelin-starred chef, restaurateur, TV celebrity and author who spearheaded the 1990s’ revival of traditional British cuisine. He was also one of the first big-name chefs to cross the divide into the contract sector, working with both Sodexho and its rival, Compass Group.
He currently operates five restaurants - the Michelin-star Rhodes 24 restaurant at London’s Tower 42 skyscrpaper, Rhodes Restaurant at the Calabash hotel on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Rhodes W1 at Thistle’s Cumberland hotel in London, Arcadian Rhodes on the P&O cruise liner Arcadia, and Rhodes D7 in Dublin.
Gary Rhodes - Career guide
Gary Rhodes was born in 1960 in London and brought up in Gillingham, Kent. After training at Thanet technical college, he secured his first job as a commis chef at the Amsterdam Hilton. Returning to London, he worked as a sous chef at the Reform Club in Pall Mall and at the Capital hotel in Knightsbridge.
In 1986 he became head chef at the Castle hotel in Taunton, where he developed his passion for British food and retained the hotel’s Michelin star at the age of 26. In 1990, he returned to London as head chef of the Greenhouse restaurant in Mayfair, which won its first-ever Michelin star in 1996.
1997 saw the first fruits of a seven-year relationship with contract caterer Sodexho (then called Gardner Merchant). Together they launched two fine dining restaurants and two brasseries, called Rhodes & Co.
The partnership with Sodexho was dissolved in 2003. The same year, Rhodes linked up with Compass subsidiary Restaurant Associates to launch Rhodes 24 at Tower 42, London’s tallest building, where he won his fifth Michelin star in 2005.
In 2004, Rhodes opened his first overseas restaurant at the Calabash hotel in the Caribbean and the following year brought Arcadian Rhodes (his first floating restaurant) and Rhodes W1 at the Cumberland hotel. He made his Irish debut in July 2006 with Rhodes D7.
Gary Rhodes - What we think
Rhodes is rightly regarded as the daddy of modern British cuisine. He reintroduced the nation to its gastronomic heritage through both his restaurants and his energetic television appearances.
It was during his tenure at the Castle hotel that Rhodes discovered his talent for refining traditional British dishes into new modern classics and the menu at his next venture, the Greenhouse, featured such Rhodes’ staples as braised oxtails, fishcakes, faggots, and bread and butter pudding.
Since the (then) spikey-haired chef made his first TV appearance in 1994, he has clocked up a staggering 13 series and, this September, published his 18th book. In this way, he has done a great deal to popularise good cooking in the home.
His ground-breaking link with Sodexho provided a canny route to expansion without risk or capital outlay. The relationship also saw Rhodes take on the role of consultant chef to the new Seven Eight restaurant at London’s St James’s Club, where Sodexho also handled the catering.
The partnership was dissolved in 2003 when poor trading results prompted Sodexho to concentrate on its core business, but Rhodes quickly bounced back with new alliances. Firstly he set up Rhokett, a firm supplying patisserie products to caterers and hotels. Later that year he linked up with Restaurant Associates (a division of Compass) to launch Rhodes 24 on the 24th floor of London’s Tower 42.
The latest and fifth addition to the Rhodes line-up opened on the ground floor of the mixed-use Capel Building in Dublin.
Rhodes has also developed a line of kitchenware and cookware under the Typhoon and Arc 42 names and markets a range of bread mixes with Kerry Foods in Asda and Morrison supermarkets. He came seventh in the Independent’s 2006 list of Britain’s richest chef which estimated his worth at £8m.
In August 2005, Rhodes become the first chef to be awarded a City & Guilds Fellowship. His awards cabinet also includes a Catey Special Award (in 1996) and an OBE in 2006.
Gary Rhodes – Further information
Gary Rhodes official website
Rhodes D7 website
Gary Rhodes profile on Wikipedia
Gary Rhodes books and cookware on Amazon
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