Marco Pierre White - Career

Career

On completion of his training in 1987, White opened Harvey's in Wandsworth Common, London (now the site of Chez Bruce), where he won his first Michelin star almost immediately and was awarded his second in 1988, before moving on to become chef-patron of The Restaurant Marco Pierre White in the dining room at the former Hyde Park Hotel, now Mandarin Oriental (where he won the third Michelin star), and then moved to the Oak Room at Le Meridien Piccadilly.

By the age of 33, Marco Pierre White had become the youngest and the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars in England.

During these years White had working for him Gordon Ramsay, Philip Howard (The Square), Stephen Terry, Eric Chavot (The Capital), Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck), Bryn Williams (Odette's), Matt Tebbutt (The Foxhunter), Donovan Cooke (Est est est) and in front of house Max (Mark) Palmer, one of the few English Maître d' of a Michelin 3-star, Claude Douart, Philippe Messy (youngest sommelier to gain 3 Michelin stars) and Chris Jones, unusual in being an English sommelier in a 2-star Michelin French restaurant at the age of 21.

Although White worked for 17 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. So, 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."

During his early career in the kitchen, White regularly ejected patrons from his restaurants if he took offence at their comments.

When a customer asked if he could have a side order of chips with his lunch, White hand-cut and personally cooked the chips, but charged the customer £25 for his time. A young chef at Harveys, who once complained of heat in the kitchen, had the back of his chef's jacket and trousers cut open by White wielding a sharp paring knife.

Marco is seen in adverts for Knorr, stock cubes and stock pots, a Unilever brand, in the UK. In answer to criticisms that he'd 'sold himself out as a chef' by acting as a brand ambassador for such products he said, "by working with companies like Knorr it allows me to stand onto a bigger stage and enrich people's lives... Michelin stars, they're my past."