So it’s not a case of there’s this new kid on the block and in four years he built his empire. It just doesn’t work like that. In restaurants, in hospitality in general, you’ve got to live, eat, breathe, and sleep service. If you don’t then you shouldn’t be in it because you will never be successful.”
Atherton says he presented a talk at Westminster College in the UK a few months ago and when it came to questions, four out of 10 questions were about the attendees wanting to know how to get on TV, and how to get a book deal.
Success, he thinks, is not measured in TV appearances and publishing books. Atherton says he responded to the students immediately. “I said, ‘Look, you’re all chefs here. If you’re not passionate about food, you should not be wearing a white jacket. When asparagus comes into season, if you don’t actually wake up excited about asparagus, you should not be wearing a white jacket.’
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“And I know that sounds over-dramatic but I still get excited about food and that’s what it’s about. Even when I’m sending a plate off to pass, I look at it before it goes to the customer. I’m just so passionate about it, and if you can’t get excited about food like that, this industry will eat you alive because it’s really long hours, it’s tough, it’s really hard to make it to the top, and you’ve got to have that dedication.
“And if you do, all the rest of that stuff, if you want to do that, will follow. But it’s also a distraction so you’ve got to be careful. All that fancy stuff should really only be the icing on the cake.
I’ve seen a lot of talented chefs in Britain who have had the talent to go all the way, throw it all away because they’ve chased TV, they’ve chased glamour, celebrity parties and all that stuff. You very rarely see me do all that. I have a lot of celebrity friends but ... you know, we got invited to go to the Oscars last year. We have no time to go to the Oscars, we’re busy!”
But being a ‘celebrity chef’ is the mantle Atherton has to bear. But he is very matter-of-fact that no matter what the title, he is extremely involved with his ventures right from the beginning. “I hate that phrase ‘celebrity chef’. It is what it is, I understand why it exists and I shouldn’t knock it because it gives us the stature we have today. But I’m not a chef who just goes into a region and that’s it. I’ll be here a lot.”
Being present a lot in the restaurants he opens is because he has adopted the strategy of launching in cities which he likes and wants to be in.
He says: “I love Dubai. I’m really excited about opening a restaurant here and I’ll be spending a lot of time here. The same for Singapore, Hong Kong and London. I’ll only open up a restaurant in a city I’m really passionate about so I can give it my all to make sure that restaurant is a big success. I’m not filming loads of TV shows, I don’t have lots of outside activities, my main focus are my restaurants and I’m hell bent on making sure our restaurants are some of the best in the world.”
Atherton thinks the InterContinental Dubai Marina is located in an “exciting part of town”. He comments that compared to the time he lived here a decade ago, the emirate has separated itself into well-defined communities not unlike those in London.
“When I lived here you had Jumeirah strip, a lot of desert, Emirates Golf Club, Bur Dubai, which is where I lived, and Karama, and that was pretty much it really. Whereas now you have Dubai Marina which is a city within itself.”
“And I feel — and I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot when I say this — I feel there’s a real scope to be the best restaurant in Dubai Marina because there’s not a lot of restaurants here at the moment, it’s under-exposed.”
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