The nepo babies of the culinary world! It’s no wonder the hospitality industry is being rocked by a diversity row when so many cooks get a foot in the door from their famous chef parents
- Celebrity chefs have helped their children get a leg up in the industry
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Top chefs have found themselves in hot water this week as a diversity row erupted over a west London bistro and its all-white, male team.
Thomas Straker came out fighting following criticism that his restaurant Strakers in Notting Hill was a continuation of the ‘white boys’ club’ stereotype in the culinary industry, instructing people to ‘calm down’ in a bid to settle the furore.
However, as other chefs waded in to give their opinions on diversity in hospitality, two-Michelin star chef Michel Roux Jr unknowingly opened up another debate, by noting his daughter Emily is a successful chef.
As he argued for better representation of women in top kitchens, he reignited the age-old ‘nepo baby’ row by noting he had given his daughter a foot in the door in top kitchens.
Speaking to The Times, he said: ‘At Le Gavroche, half the kitchen team is female, including the head chef, who has been with me for over three years.
Michel Roux Jr has inadvertently reignited the debate about ‘nepo babies’, this time in the hospitality industry, by discussing his daughter’s success in professional kitchens as an example of diversity in the industry
‘I’ve always promoted and tried to promote female chefs — and my daughter is my chef — it’s about equality and equality of opportunity for everybody.’
Emily Roux, who owns Caractère in Notting Hill, West London, was born into the third generation of one of the most famous culinary families in the world.
The daughter of Michel Roux and the granddaughter of the late Albert Roux, she was no doubt given plenty of opportunities to hone her cookery skills – which saw her train with legendary French chef Alain Ducasse in La Trattoria, Monaco.
Her earliest kitchen experiences were peeling potatoes and carrots in the then-three Michelin starred Le Gavroche – which was her family’s kitchen.
But Emily isn’t the only successful and talented chef to have been given a little helping hand from a similarly talented elder relative in the culinary world, as many kitchen ‘nepo babies’ have followed in their parents’ footsteps to enter the hospitality industry.
Here, FEMAIL takes a look at other chefs who have had a very influential foot in the door in the world of cookery…
Michel Roux Jr
Michel Roux Jr is the son of the late Albert Roux, who died in 2021. Albert and his brother, Michel Sr, opened Le Gavroche in London in 1967. L-R: Emily Roux, Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jr
Michel Roux Jr himself was raised by a famous and successful chef, the late Albert Roux, who died in January 2021.
He is named after his late uncle, Michel Roux Sr, who passed away a year before his brother, in 2020.
The Roux brothers, who opened the two Michelin Star restaurant Le Gavroche in 1967, are largely credited with changing the food scene in the UK by bringing their classic French cookery to London.
As they stormed onto the scene, the Roux brothers influenced other professional chefs in the sphere and changed the landscape of fine dining in the UK.
Chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and Marcus Wareing are among those who trained at Le Gavroche – as well as Michel Roux Jr.
The two Michelin star chef, who now stars on cooking competitions on TV including Five Star Kitchen on Channel 4, first picked up pots and pans in his childhood – and when he was born, his father was working as a private chef for the Queen Mother’s horse trainers.
He has previously said of his childhood: ‘My earliest memory was when I was probably about six and making vanilla ice cream with my father.
‘He would make it in a wooden pail with crushed ice and salt, with an iron cylinder inside and wooden paddles so you could churn the ice cream by hand.’
At 16, Michel Roux Jr went off to France to complete an apprenticeship in a pastry shop – and when he returned to London, he put his skills to use for a season in his father’s and his uncle’s restaurant.
In 1993, he took over from his elders and became the chef patron of Le Gavroche.
Jack Stein
Jack Stein is the second son of celebrity chef Rick Stein and now works as chef director for his father’s business
Jack Stein is the son of Rick Stein, a celebrity chef who has made several television series travelling around the world and exploring new cuisines
Jack Stein is the second son of famed celebrity chef Rick Stein. He is currently working as the Chef Director at his father’s restaurant chain, Stein’s at Home.
Based in Cornwall where the Stein family owns nearly a dozen restaurants, Jack is responsible for menu development at the sites.
Jack, whose brothers Charles and Edward also work for the family business, travelled around the world working in restaurants early in his career.
In 2017, he was appointed to the chef director role at his father’s business.
Rick Stein, who is worth an estimated £32 million according to The Sun, owns nine restaurants in the south west of England, most notably in Cornwall. He also runs two sites in Australia, where he spends much of his time.
The celebrity chef has authored dozens of cookbooks and has made several television series in which he tours the world, exploring cuisines and putting his own spin on classic dishes from other cultures.
From a young age, Jack followed in his father’s footsteps and began working in a professional kitchen as a porter at The Seafood Restaurant which is owned by his father.
He then went off to university, but after achieving a masters degree in ancient history he worked as a commis chef at The Seafood Restaurant, before becoming a sous chef at Rick Stein’s Café.
Luciano Pierre White
Luciano Pierre White, who owns Luccio’s bistro in Dorchester, offers his customers a laid back approach to Italian dining
Luciano’s father Marco (pictured) has said he is ‘very proud’ of his son and believed he entered the hospitality industry by choice
Luciano Pierre White is the owner of Luccio’s bistro in Dorchester and Luciano’s Italian restaurant in Woking. He is the son of Marco Pierre White, who has a Michelin star.
After the Surrey branch of Luciano’s opened in December 2021, the owner’s father Marco arrived at the site to help his son promote the new venture and said he was ‘very proud’ of his son.
He told Surrey Live that, whereas he had been ‘forced’ into the cookery industry as a young man in the 1970s, following on from his father’s legacy, Luciano had ‘made his own choice’ to enter the culinary world.
He said: ‘They are very clever young men, Luciano and [his business partner] Liam. They work really hard. What I like is, I like the fact that they cook food you want to eat and they make food affordable – and that’s it.’
Luciano entered the professional kitchen from a young age with his father, before going on to complete a stint working for Pierre Koffman at the Berkeley Hotel.
His career has taken him across the world, including to Barcelona and Singapore, but he now runs the Luciano’s sites in the UK.
In March this year, his career suffered a stumble when Luciano’s in Devon closed down, a year after opening.
Devon Live reported the restaurant’s manager posted on Facebook: ‘It’s with a heavy heart but we have made the decision to closed our doors for the time being! Me and my team would like to thank each and everyone of you for supporting us these last 14 months.’
The reason for the closure was not given.
Last month, Luciano suffered another blow when a former waitress successfully sued him for £10 of unpaid overtime after being taken to an employment tribunal.
Alicia Lourenço went unpaid for months following a trial shift at Luciano’s restaurant in Woking, Surrey in April 2022.
She claimed she did extra hours and that when she went to confront her bosses about the outstanding overtime payment, they became aggressive and called her ‘crazy’, insisting she would not get paid.
Ms Lourenço told the hearing in Reading: ‘It’s not about the money. It’s about the way they have treated me and the way they made me feel. It’s about the trauma.’
Sam Worrall Thompson
Sam Worrall Thompson (right) runs a catering business in Adelaide, Australia, where he has worked in several professional kitchens
Sam’s father is Antony Worrall Thompson, a celebrity chef who now spends his time running The Greyhound in Henley-on-Thames
Sam Worrall Thompson is the son of former Ready, Steady Cook chef Antony Worrall-Thompson.
He is based in Adelaide, Australia, where he runs a catering business, Kitchen Catering by Sam.
Although his father is based in Henley on Thames where he runs The Greyhound, Sam has followed in Antony’s footsteps to enter the culinary world in Australia, where he was raised.
He has worked in restaurants around the Australian state, and spoke of his father’s influence on him while he was head chef at the Jack Ruby.
Sam told the Adelaide Advertiser: ‘[My father is] still working five doubles (shifts) a week at 60. I can’t believe how he does it.’
Despite having a famous father in the same industry, Sam insisted he understood the value of hard work.
He said: ‘Every dollar we make we’ll appreciate more than the kids who’ve been spoon-fed.’
Tilly Ramsay
Tilly Ramsay (pictured) has been presenting YouTube and Instagram videos with her famous father for years, and reached the final of Celebrity MasterChef Australia in 2021
Tilly’s father is one of the most famous and successful celebrity chefs of all time – Gordon Ramsay, who has a total of seven Michelin stars to his name
Tilly Ramsay’s father is one of the most famous (and successful) celebrity chefs in the world – Gordon Ramsay.
Boasting a phenomenal seven Michelin stars in his restaurants around the world, fronting several television series and having published dozens of cookbooks, Gordon has left enormous shoes for his daughter to fill.
However, the 21-year-old seems up for the challenge, having entered the kitchen with her father at the age of four when he was filming Channel 4 series The F Word.
After making YouTube videos with her dad in which she joined him in the kitchen (and played the occasional prank on him) Tilly entered the Celebrity MasterChef Australia kitchen in 2021 where she made it all the way to the final.
Prior to this she hosted CBBC cookery show Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch alongside her famous family.
In 2017 Tilly released her first cookbook based on the television show of the same name. It contained family and child-friendly recipes and was written with a little help from her famous father.
Buddy Oliver
Buddy Oliver’s cookery skills have been wowing his father Jamie’s followers over the last few weeks – and now his fans are demanding he create a cookbook with his easy recipes
Jamie revealed earlier this year that his son hasn’t decided what his future career will be yet and insisted his kitchen skills have been honed through hard work and practise
The youngest nepo baby chef on the list is Buddy Oliver, 12-year-old son of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
He has shot to fame accompanying his father in their home kitchen, testing out recipes and honing his kitchen skills in YouTube and Instagram videos, and has a YouTube channel called Cooking Buddies.
Speaking to MailOnline earlier this year, Jamie explained Buddy has yet to reveal his future career ambitions and even claims his son isn’t technology minded, despite his success online, admitting ‘he doesn’t even go on YouTube.’
But the father-of-five does reveal the youngster’s cooking talents have developed because of sheer practice.
He explained: ‘When he was ten, and you can find this online, he filleted a mackerel.
‘It’s not because he’s a special kid, it’s because kids are brilliant and when they repeat things a few times, they get good at it – whether it’s cricket, boxing or gymnastics, and he happened to have a mackerel in his hand, which is a cheap fish that’s bloody good for you, and he cooked it for his brother River, crispy skins 90 per cent of the way, and you can’t produce that content.
‘When I take him down the market on a Saturday, he’s had 70-year-old men saying, ‘I’ve never really been into your old man, but I saw you do that video and came here and brought mackerel.’
‘He has that effect on people, particularly the older generation. I’m really proud of him, he’s a good kid.’
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