The chef began working with the Ilkley restaurant in October, and is helping current owners Simon and Rena Gueller with “future projects”.
“The first project is really getting Marco involved with The Box Tree,” said Simon Gueller, speaking to BigHospitality today. “At the moment we’re working on various menu changes, which you'll probably see in January.”
But Guella stressed that although The Box Tree would use White’s input to help improve the menu, the changes wouldn’t fundamentally alter the restaurant.
“We’re a Michelin-starred restaurant, so the changes won’t be too drastic,” he said. “The changes will be subtle, we’re not doing an overhaul of the business or anything like that.”
“It’s about making changes for the better without upsetting our existing customers. We’re a very successful business anyway, so we have to be careful.”
“Spiritual home”
White worked in the Yorkshire restaurant during the 1970s as a teenager, and Gueller has said the celebrity chef sees the venue as his “spiritual home”.
Gueller, who took on The Box Tree with his wife Rena six years ago, has previously worked with White in Leeds and London.
“I worked with Marco in the past; we’re old friends we’ve known each other for 30 years,” he said. “Our food is similar, so it makes it easier to work together.”
White is helping the kitchen team update the menu, which already included some of the celebrity chef’s classic dishes, including a Ballotine of Salmon, as well as Prune Souffle with Armagnac, and a Terrine of Foie Gras with Madeira Jelly.
Gueller said that the salmon would undergo a revamp, and would soon be served with langoustines. But he added that each change to each dish would be worked on to ensure that it fits the restaurant: “We’re working on dishes behind the scenes before serving them in the restaurant to make sure they’re right for the Box Tree,” he said.
"We have very high standards anyway. It's about taking those standards and raising them just a little bit."