Rayner is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author whose work includes appearing as a judge on MasterChef, hosting BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, and creating the podcast Out To Lunch.
He has spent the past 28 years of his career at The Observer, 25 of them as its restaurant critic
In 2023 he was named Critic of the Year at the UK Press Awards.
“I am thrilled and delighted to be joining the Financial Times as its new restaurant critic,” says Rayner.
“I have been both an avid fan and devoted reader of the paper for many years and it’s an honour to become part of a team I have admired from afar for so long.”
O’Loughlin, who is a contributing editor to Noble Rot magazine, will be writing a monthly column for the magazine about the global restaurant scene and food culture following her successful FT summer series ‘Critic Unchained’.
“After leaving the Sunday Times, I’ve made a hobby of saying ‘no’ to offers,” says O’Loughlin. “So it’s with enormous pleasure that I’m now saying ‘yes’ to my favourite of all the major newspapers, with the best food and drink section in the business.”
The FT’s current restaurant critic Tim Hayward, who has been writing for the paper since 2010, will become the FT’s food writer, ‘contributing deep-dives on home cooking projects and other culinary fixations’.
“Twelve years is a long time to be critical about restaurants,” says Hayward. “I’m looking forward to being able to write fully about the thing I love, enthusing about food, in breadth and depth.”
Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine and the world’s leading wine writer, will continue to anchor the magazine’s unmatched and in-depth wine coverage.
“I can’t wait to play my part alongside the huge talents that are Jancis Robinson, Tim Hayward and Marina O’Loughlin, in providing the most entertaining and authoritative food and drink coverage in the business,” adds Rayner.
Harriet Fitch Little will remain food and drink editor of the FT Magazine.