Raymond Blanc opened first restaurant with £3,000 and no experience

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 8 Oct, 19:55 · Archive

Chef Raymond Blanc says he arrived in England with almost no money and opened his first restaurant in Oxford in 1977 with only about £3,000.

Chef Raymond Blanc has opened up about the financial struggles of his early career. He arrived in England with almost no money and barely any English, but said he was hungry for opportunity. He lived very modestly and worked extraordinary hours.

When opening his first restaurant, Les Quat'Saisons, in Oxford in 1977, Blanc had only about £3,000 to his name. He staked his entire life savings on the venture. In an interview with The Telegraph, he described this period as 'very difficult', noting that if the restaurant had failed he would have lost everything, including his house.

Blanc said that having very little money made him resilient. He believed that if he worked hard enough and gave absolutely everything, something good would eventually happen. He told The Telegraph that the fear of financial ruin never fully leaves him, and in some ways it kept him sharp. Blanc went on to found Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Great Milton in 1984, which has since earned and retained two Michelin stars for over four decades, and established the Brasserie Blanc restaurant chain.

Raymond Blanc opened first restaurant with £3,000 and no experience — Image: Oxfordshire Guardian

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Raymond Blanc, 76, opens up on 'no money' in honest admissionCelebrity chef Raymond Blanc has opened up in an honest admission to having "almost no money" when he was younger.Oxfordshire Guardian · 8 Oct, 19:15
Raymond Blanc, 76, opens up on 'no money' in honest admissionCelebrity chef Raymond Blanc has opened up in an honest admission to having "almost no money" when he was younger.Oxford Mail · 8 Oct, 19:15

In this story: Raymond Blanc · Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons · Les Quat'Saisons · Brasserie Blanc · Oxford · Great Milton · The Telegraph

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