In putting this list together Restaurant has used its own extensive knowledge of the industry and also canvassed the opinions of numerous experts in the restaurant sector on who has the most clout. It then applied a framework to this list of names of what it believes constitutes true power, ranking people based on criteria including the size and strength of their businesses, their status in the industry and their influence on others in it, their consumer profile, the amount of media exposure they garner, their global reach and their future plans.
The list has been divided into seven categories - Chefs, Restaurateurs, The boardroom, Power pairings, Investors, Disruptors and Generation next - ranked from either 1-10 or 1-20.
Where required, we have used our discretion to decide if someone should be listed as a chef or restaurateur, an investor or part of the boardroom based on criteria such as whether that person still regularly cooks in the kitchen, has more than one business interest, makes executive decisions or has a more advisory role.
Chefs
- Jason Atherton
- Tom Kerridge
- Simon Rogan
- Marcus Wareing
- Sat Bains
- Clare Smyth
- Helene Darroze
- Fergus Henderson
- Angela Hartnett
- Nathan Outlaw
- Michel Roux Jr
- Glynn Purnell
- Nuno Mendes
- Tong Chee Hwee
- Nieves Barragán-Mohaco
- Daniel Clifford
- Stephen Harris
- Atul Kochhar
- Brett Graham
- Martin Wishart
Restaurateurs
- Alan Yau
- Jamie Oliver
- Gordon Ramsay
- Rainer Becker
- Raymond Blanc
- Russell Norman
- Rick Stein
- Mikhail Zelman
- Marlon Abela
- Mark Hix
- Ruth Rogers
- Arkady Novikov
- Yotam Ottolenghi
- Namita and Camellia Panjabi, Ranjit Mathrani
- Tak Tokumine
- Monika Linton
- Tony Kitous
- Nigel Platts-Martin
- Mourad Mazouz
- Terence Conran
Power pairings
- Chris Corbin & Jeremy King
- Heston Blumenthal and Ashley Palmer-Watts
- Huw Gott and Will Beckett
- Andy Bassadone and Chris Benians
- Des Gunewardena and David Loewi
- Yianni Papoutsis and Scott Collins
- Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby
- The Galvin Brothers
- Nigel Haworth and Craig Bancroft
- Sam and Eddie Hart
The boardroom
- Nick Jones
- Steve Richards
- Richard Hodgson
- Rob Papps
- David Campbell
- Steve Holmes
- John Eckbert
- Simon Blagden
- Tom Byng
- Tim Bacon
- John Vincent
- Danny Breithaupt
- Julian Metcalfe
- Alex Reilley
- Simon Kossof
- Robin Rowland
- Jens Hofma
- Karen Forrester
- Alasdair Murdoch
- Alex Scrimgeour
Disruptors
- Will Shu
- Jonathan Downey
- Peter Miller
- Luke Lang
- Mobile payment companies
- Petra Barran
- Roger Wade
- Richard Turner
- Carousel
- Fred Sirieix
Investors
- Richard Caring
- Luke Johnson
- Charles Dunstone
- David Page
- Paul Campbell
- Arjun Waney
- The Sethi Family
- Ajith Jaya-Wickrema
- Ian Neill
- Steve Hill
Generation next
- Isaac McHale
- James Lowe
- Mikael Jonsson
- Peter Sanchez-Iglesias
- Michael O'Hare
- Tom Sellers
- Jonathan Arana-Morton and Alison Rooney
- Mark Birchall
- Shamil and Kavi Thakrar
- Andy Oliver, Mark Dobbie and Tom George