Background and career
Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is an English chef, restaurateur and television personality. In 1995, White became the first British chef and, at age 33, the youngest chef to earn three Michelin stars. He has trained chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Curtis Stone, Phil Howard and Stephen Terry. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the enfant terrible of the British restaurant scene.
Marco Pierre White was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 11 December 1961, the third of four sons to Maria-Rosa Gallina, an Italian immigrant from Veneto, and Frank White, a chef. When Marco was six, his mother died from a cerebral haemorrhage caused by complications from the birth of his younger brother. He left Allerton High School in Leeds without any qualifications and decided to train as a chef like his father. White realised he is dyslexic when his son was diagnosed by his school. He recalled feeling humiliated when other children laughed when he was called on to read aloud in school. White said in 2012 that he "was very fortunate that I entered a world where I didn't have to read or write. I entered a world of cooking where I expressed with my fingers and so that built my confidence. Over the years I've taught myself how to read. I've taught myself how to spell."
White first trained at Hotel St George in Harrogate and then at the Box Tree in Ilkley. In 1981 he moved to London with, he claimed, "£7.36, a box of books, and a bag of clothes", and began his classical training as a commis with Albert and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche. He continued his training under Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire, moving to work in the kitchen of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir, and later with Nico Ladenis of Chez Nico at Ninety Park Lane. He then branched out on his own, working in the kitchen at the Six Bells public house in the Kings Road with Mario Batali as an assistant. In 1987 White opened Harveys in Wandsworth Common, London, where he won his first Michelin star almost immediately, and his second a year later. He also won the Newcomer Award at the 1987 The Catey Awards, run by The Caterer magazine. White's protégés who worked at Harveys include Gordon Ramsay, Phil Howard, Stephen Terry and Éric Chavot. He later became chef-patron of The Restaurant Marco Pierre White in the dining room at the former Hyde Park Hotel, where he became the youngest chef to achieve three Michelin stars. He then moved to the Oak Room at the Le Méridien Piccadilly Hotel. Although White worked for seventeen years to pursue his ambition, he ultimately found that, in spite of his accomplishments, recognition and fame, his career did not provide him with adequate returns in his personal life. As a result, in 1999, he retired and returned his Michelin stars.
I was being judged by people who had less knowledge than me, so what was it truly worth? I gave Michelin inspectors too much respect, and I belittled myself. I had three options: I could be a prisoner of my world and continue to work six days a week, I could live a lie and charge high prices and not be behind the stove or I could give my stars back, spend time with my children and re-invent myself.
White announced his retirement from the kitchen in 1999, and cooked his final meal for a paying customer on 23 December at the Oak Room. He also returned all his Michelin stars. After his retirement from cooking, he became a restaurateur. Together with Jimmy Lahoud, he set up White Star Line Ltd, which they operated together for several years before ending their partnership in 2007.
In 2008 White opened his first steakhouse, the "MPW Steak & Alehouse" with James Robertson in the Square Mile in London. As co-owners, since 2010 they also operated the Kings Road Steakhouse & Grill in Chelsea. James Robertson had worked for White as a maître d'hôtel, between 1999 and 2003. In May 2016 the two restaurants became the London Steakhouse Co. White had a stake in the Yew Tree Inn, a 17th-century dining pub near Highclere in Hampshire, although following an acrimonious falling out with his business partners the pub was sold. This was the setting for much of "Marco's Great British Feast", screened on ITV in the summer of 2008. In January 2009 it was reported that White was to charge £5 for a pint of real ale at the venue, making the Yew Tree "one of the most expensive places to drink British real ale in the country". White said: "Most pubs undercharge. You're not just paying for beer, you're paying for the place you drink it in and the people who serve it." In 2010 White met the businessman Nick Taplin, the owner of a four-star hotel in North Somerset called Cadbury House and the operator of other venues in Britain. Taplin was looking to improve the in-house restaurant offering across his hotel estate and in October 2010, following discussions with White, Taplin opened a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill at Cadbury House as a franchisee. This was closely followed by restaurants at Hoole Hall in Chester and The Cube in Birmingham. As more hotel owners started making enquiries about a Marco Pierre White restaurant, in 2013 White developed a master franchise with Taplin, and together launched Black And White Hospitality. The business operates a franchise model allowing property owners or investors to open one of the eight Marco Pierre White branded restaurants within their property, which comprise Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, Mr White's English Chophouse, Wheeler's of St James's Oyster Bar & Grill Room, Koffmann & Mr White's, Marco's New York Italian, Wheeler's Fish & Chips, Bardolino Pizzeria Bellini & Espresso Bar and Marconi Coffee & Juice Bar. White has published several books, including cookbook White Heat, an autobiography titled White Slave (retitled The Devil in the Kitchen in North America and in the paperback version), and the recipe collection Wild Food from Land and Sea.
