Caterersearch.com 100: the top five chefs

At the beginning of July Caterersearch.com, in association with Bisto, revealed its list of the 100 most influential people in hospitality. In our third
article analysing the list, we look at the top five chefs.

As well as sharing the distinction of being household names within the hospitality industry and beyond, the top five chefs in this year's Caterersearch.com 100 share a number of traits in their business approaches.

Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc may be regulars on our television screens but they, along with industry heavyweights Michel and Alain Roux, are all "very driven people".

That is the view of Jason Atherton, who worked for Ramsay for eight years before leaving earlier this year and who knows the other chefs in the top five well. "Although they are very different, the same will to succeed and the same lifelong commitment to quality in their fields shines through," he adds.

"The common paths are the same in all cases, except Jamie's - all these guys work extremely hard at running great restaurants that have trained amazing young chefs to go on and succeed in their own right."

But while Oliver does not directly run a restaurant - with day-to-day management at Jamie's Italian handled by managing director Simon Blagden (Caterer, 23 July) - Atherton says he is "a very smart young guy who has turned himself into the most amazing, marketable chef in the UK, if not the world".

"Who else hangs out with Brad Pitt?" he adds.

No doubt speaking from personal experience, Atherton says the decision to devote your life to the hospitality industry is a hard one. "To put your family last to pursue being the best, with no certain guarantee of succeeding, is not easy," he says. "But each and every one of these guys did that, and succeeded."

Summing up what the top five have in common, Atherton concludes that they all have "the will to be the best, and the steel to stick it out when so many want it but aren't prepared to fight for it".

For Lucy Taylor, head of UK & US restaurant relations at Toptable, the top five are all fantastic chefs: customer focused, good business people and inspirational leaders.

"They all share the most important trait of being a leader, in my opinion, which is wanting to pass on their skills and grow their talent," she adds.

Each chef in the top five has created a niche for themselves and then stuck to what they believe, according to Taylor. "So Jamie started with a passion for Italian cooking, which is very much still part of his brand passion and identity," she says.

"Raymond Blanc is all about country house hotel fine dining style - and he hasn't really drifted from this. When it comes to Heston, with his experimentation and perfection for every dish, it's no surprise that his menu rarely changes as it takes him so long to hone what he deems the perfect dish.

"Gordon has continued to grow talent from his group - for example, Angela Hartnett, Stuart Gillies, Mark Askew, Jason Atherton, Claire Smyth - while the Rouxs have a family-run business at its best that hasn't changed, and probably never will."

Television appearances have been a uniform turning point for all of the chefs - most notably Jamie Oliver, says Taylor. "Jamie has faced negative publicity in the past, all of which I believe he has turned on its head by continuing to stick to what he believes not just in the kitchen, but politically too," she says. "He has made great inroads into raising awareness and prompting people to take a closer look at how schoolchildren (and all of us) eat. "

Accolades have also been key to the development of the leading chefs, points out Taylor. "I know that Heston's business changed hugely after he won his third Michelin star," she says. "I don't think it would be a lie to say he may not have been able to continue in the way he was without it - it was a big turning point for him."

This is a point picked up by food writer Michael Raffael, who says they have all reacted well to adversity. "Heston might have gone bust if he hadn't got the third star; Raymond might have lost everything but for the Manoir deal with Virgin; and Gordon lost a few million last year," he says. Looking into his crystal ball, Raffael predicts that television will continue to favour the few, but says that most chefs will have to market themselves beyond it.

"Trip Advisor, Viamichelin and online newspapers will become more relevant than the old media," he says. "Chefs will have to be Twitterers, bloggers, YouTubers and Facebook-savvy to catch the attention of possible clients. As for cooking - that's something else.

"Further, I'd suggest that the classic brigade system will change too and the old route up the ladder that all (bar Jamie) took will soon be supplanted by career tracks that may bring promising chefs to the top faster," he adds.

KEY QUOTES

1 Jamie Oliver,Caterer, October 2007

"It's all about bringing my food to the public and offering them the best value for money they can get. I'm putting my name on the line and the restaurant will have to offer the best quality meal diners have had at that cost because otherwise I'll have failed."

2 Heston Blumenthal,The Scotsman, March 2010

"Cooking is such a wonderful thing to do that you want to enjoy the moment. If you're peeling a carrot you need to think, ‘What am I going to do with that? Slice it thinly? Roast it?' You get much more pleasure and quality out of your work if you have that thinking time. And I really encourage younger chefs to ask questions. It shows they're inquisitive and you learn a lot yourself. It's a really good environment to stimulate and motivate. It's a selfish need that I have to make it a much more enjoyable day because it's no fun being grumpy."

3 Gordon Ramsay,BT Business Insight, October 2007

"The secret of a successful chef is to put yourself in the customer's position. By that I mean thinking about what they want. You can't have your menu laced with offal, foie gras and £50 or £60-worth of caviar. You need your mainstream lamb and your simple salads. Not everyone who comes into your restaurant is going to be a foodie. There'll be two foodies out of six on one table. You can't overdo it. You've got to find that balance. I put myself in the position of the customer, not the chef. That means excitement and creativity."

4 Raymond Blanc,Caterer, October 2008

"We think we are in charge of our own destiny and we are for some of it, but certainly not all of it. I am an entrepreneur by accident. I was a craftsman first, a man who had a business vision, but not a businessman. I know who I am: a man who is passionate and loves to work with people. And I am a man who has learnt, because in my early days you could say I was a maverick, driven by passion and instinct."

5 Michel Roux,Caterer, August 2007

"The only recipe for keeping standards up is to have a standard yourself. My standard is that I want perfection on every level and in every area that is around me - from sweeping the street in front of the restaurant every morning, to the quality of the flowers, to the look of the doorman, to the look of the chefs and the attitude of the waiters."

LESSONS CHEFS CAN LEARN FROM THE TOP FIVE

By Jason Atherton

â- You have to take risks if you want to succeed: I am about to take the biggest risk of my life by putting all of our life savings into our first restaurant

â- Gordon Ramsay always use to say to me: "It's a marathon, not a sprint" and he is so right - you are in this for life, not a couple of years

â- Be smart - think like a businessman, not always a chef

â- Use every means of media available to help fill your restaurants. Look at all these guys - they all have high profile media presence

â- Surround yourself with a good team - this is the most important lesson I learnt from Gordon

â- Reward the people who reward you - look after your team

HOW WE COMPILE THE LIST

Nominees in each of the five categories were judged by panels of industry experts.

To begin with, candidates had to meet these qualifying criteria: the personality should be based mainly in the UK, and their power and influence should be primarily in the UK market.

Shortlisted candidates were awarded marks for each of five criteria, which were averaged out to give an overall ranking in the Caterersearch.com 100.

First consideration was the scale and scope of the operation headed by the nominees. But size isn't everything, and candidates were next judged on the power and influence they exert in the industry and the respect they command among their peers. We asked whether they were shapers of policy, leaders in their field, or inspiring and nurturing the next generation of movers and shakers.

The judges then examined whether the candidates had a proven record of financial success and whether this was reflected in the eyes of their peers and the outside world.

The candidates' reputation for innovation was next, as the judges examined to what degree they were setting standards others wanted to copy and whether their ideas would remain in fashion.

Longevity was the fifth and final hurdle for the candidates as the panellists considered whether they - and their creations - would stand the test of time.

View the full Caterersearch.com 100 list for 2010 >>

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