Food and Drink > Lancashire Chef Profiles > Paul Heathcote

Paul Heathcote

Snapshot
Paul Heathcote is a Michelin-starred chef-proprietor who has grown into a successful catering entrepreneur. A champion of British regional cuisine, Heathcote has built up a diverse empire in the north-west of England. Along with his Michelin-starred restaurant in Longridge near Preston, Heathcote's empire comprises four Simply Heathcote brasseries (in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Wrightington), five Olive Press Pizzeria, Bar and Grills (in Preston, Manchester, Liverpool, Warrington and Bolton ) and the Winckley Square Chop House and Bar. Heathcote has also set up a thriving outside catering arm and a cookery school in Manchester.

Career guide
Paul Heathcote was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1960. After studying at Bolton Catering College, he worked at a variety of venues. During these apprenticeship years, Heathcote worked with four people who were to prove lasting inspirations - Francis Coulson and Brian Sack at Sharrow Bay hotel in Ullswater, Cumbria, Michel Bourdin at London's Connaught hotel, and Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux'Quat Saisons in Oxfordshire - before taking on the role of executive head chef at Broughton Park hotel in Preston.

At the age of 29, in 1990, Heathcote took the plunge and opened his first, eponymous restaurant at Longridge in Preston, which won its second Michelin star in 1994 and was renamed Longridge in 2003. In 1995, he launched the first Simply Heathcotes (then called Heathcotes Brasserie and now the Winckley Square Chop House and Bar) in Preston and its basement became the first Olive Press restaurant in 2002.

In 1997, Heathcote expanded his offering, setting up his sports and events catering arm Heathcotes Outside and launching the Paul Heathcote School of Excellence in Manchester.

What we think
Paul Heathcote has flown the flag for regional British cuisine all the way into the pages of the Michelin Guide - yet Heathcote's is an against-the-odds success story.

He took a huge risk when he sold his house and took out a £30,000 overdraft to open his first restaurant in the gastronomic desert of Lancashire at a time when interest rates had soared to a recessionary peak of 18%. Heathcote nearly went bust twice but his flair, business acumen and staying power prevailed.

In 1994 Heathcote took the Egon Ronay Chef of the Year award and the restaurant became the North's only holder of two Michelin stars. Although Heathcote gradually dropped these stars, he regained one-star status in 2004 despite having simplified the menu and cut prices at the renamed Longridge restaurant.

In 1995 he took his cuisine to the middle market when he opened, in Preston, the first of what became the Simply Heathcote chain of brasseries which also won critical acclaim. Heathcote is now considering revamping the line, perhaps as unbranded standalone restaurants.

Five years after launching Simply Heathcote, he tapped into a new market for Mediterranean family restaurants with the Olive Press chain, which has proved easier and cheaper to open and has become the most profitable restaurant brand. Three new openings between February and April in Alderley Edge, Knutsford and Clitheroe will take the brand to eight branches next year and Heathcote plans to open up to two more a year to reach up to 20 venues.

Heathcote was one of the first high-profile chefs to recognise the potential of sports catering. Heathcotes Outside, the catering firm he created in partnership with Gary Bates (his head chef at the Preston brasserie), has picked up contracts with such clients as Chester and Bangor racecourses, Preston North End FC and Warrington Wolves.

The catering business, which turned over a £9m in the year to February 2006, gained a huge boost this May when Heathcote merged it with 38-year-old Lindley Catering, a specialist in sports, stadium and events catering, to create a £40m-turnover company with 450 staff and 11,000 part-timers. Heathcotes Outside will continue to run under its own name under the Lindley umbrella with Bates overseeing the day-to-day operation.

Heathcote's runaway success underlines the growing demand for better food in the North, which is providing a largely untapped market for entrepreneurs. Heathcote remains undazzled by the southern lights and says he has no desire to expand north of Cumbria or south of Cheshire.

He has won two Cateys - Newcomer of the Year in 1992 and Independent Restaurateur of the Year in 1997.