His professional life started in the legendary kitchen of Prue Leith’s Michelin starred restaurant, giving his career a firm foundation in French fine dining. There he learned the importance of presentation and palate: the food needing to look as sumptuous as it tasted.
Throughout his career, Andrew has demonstrated tireless resilience and motivation. He strives for perfection and demands the best, and staff who’ve trained or worked under him remain fiercely loyal. At Cocoon, he transformed the fortunes of the company by singlehandedly running one of London’s largest restaurants, taking it to a level where it featured frequently, and always positively, in reviews. The owners, the Ignite Group, subsequently commissioned Andrew to take on other establishments within the group: opening staunchly British Bumpkin, the American Volstead and Spanish-Asian Eclipse, as well as the royal nightclub favourite Boujis. Each time he designed the menu, recruited the staff and sourced all the suppliers of ingredients and restaurant paraphernalia. Each time he drove home significant profit margins for the company.
Andrew then moved onto consultancy work in London, New York, Slovakia, and Cyprus. It was during this time that he was asked to join as a Junior Partner at Il Vaporetto, Joseph Ettedgui’s (the designer behind the Joseph label) restaurant. The opulent synthesis of classic Italian dining with unexpected ingredients from the Far East created a firm neighbourhood favourite. Sadly, Joseph passed away early in 2010, so with the family electing to withdraw from the restaurant industry Andrew returned to consulting.
This year Andrew has been working in London building restaurant consultancy Kinkou Limited, working with the Rushmore group (owners of Milk & Honey, Redhook, Giant Robot and Match bar) and Rhubarb, a well known outside catering company, winning the Elton John Aids Foundation party and fending off the likes of renowned two starred Michelin chef Brett Graham from The Ledbury. Andrew also was asked to create sushi for the ARK event at Kensington Palace for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first social appearance and is working with Circus in Covent Garden, 21, The Market, Tattu in Manchester and Four to Eight.