Raymond Blanc

Blanc was born near Besançon, the capital of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France, between Burgundy and the Jura mountains. He grew up in Saône, a village just east of there.

While his two sisters were taught to cook by the influential Maman Blanc, his father taught Blanc and his two brothers to work in the kitchen garden. His father gave him a colander and foraging map for his 10th birthday, and what he collected his mother taught him to cook.[7]

Training as a waiter, Blanc worked at the Michelin-starred Le Palais de la Bière in Besançon. In 1972 he was fired for upsetting the head chef (Blanc had offered him advice on how to cook); however, the manager knew of a job in England.[7]

Not speaking English well enough to survive without a notepad, he was dispatched to The Rose Revived in Newbridge, Oxfordshire, arriving three days after landing at Dover in his Renault 5 Gordini. Blanc married the owner's daughter Jenny, and the couple had two sons.[7]

Before striking out on his own in 1977, Blanc worked for a time under chef patron André Chavagnon, who had opened a French restaurant, La Sorbonne, in Oxford High Street in 1966.

In 1977, the Blancs opened Les Quat' Saisons in a row of modern shops in Summertown, Oxford: "We mortgaged the house, owed 18 further people, and opened in a corridor between a lingerie shop and Oxfam". An overnight success, he won "Egon Ronay Guide Restaurant of the Year", two Michelin stars and a host of other distinctions.[7]

In 1981, Blanc opened La Maison Blanc, a chain of boulangeries and pâtisseries that also contain cafès. There were 14 branches of Maison Blanc across the country, including several in London and one in Oxford. Maison Blanc cakes were also available nationwide in Waitrose supermarkets.[8] The chain was closed in 2017 by its owners, Kout Food Group.[9]

In 1983, Blanc purchased a manor-house in the Oxfordshire village of Great Milton where he opened Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a country house hotel and double Michelin starred restaurant. Awarded five AA stars and with a score of 19/20 from respected French guide Gault Millau, Le Manoir describes itself as "one of the ultimate gastronomic destinations in the country".[10]

Blanc opened Le Petit Blanc, the first of a chain of smaller restaurants, in Oxford in June 1996. Blanc's stated aim with these was to bring the French philosophy of "good food being central to good living" to the United Kingdom. His desire was to create and serve food that can be enjoyed by everyone – "from the time-conscious business person to those looking for a welcoming family restaurant".

Blanc suffered two mini strokes when he was 42, believed to have been brought on by stress and overwork.[11]

In June 2003, after nearly losing the chain to his ex-wife Jenny as part of his divorce settlement,[7] the four Le Petit Blanc Brasseries (now known as Brasserie Blanc) in Birmingham (which closed in 2008), Cheltenham, Manchester and Oxford became part of the Loch Fyne Restaurant Group portfolio. Blanc maintains a share in the business, and continues to be involved creating new menus, developing the chef and kitchen teams and participating in the promotion of the restaurants. Since 1996, Raymond has opened the following branches of Brasserie Blanc:[12]

• 1996 - Le Petit Blanc brasserie, Oxford. Awarded one Michelin Star in its first year and classed amongst the ten best restaurants in the country, in 2006 it was re-launched as Brasserie Blanc
• 1998 - Cheltenham
• 1999 - Birmingham (closed 2008)[13]
• 2000 - Manchester
• 2004 - Tunbridge Wells (closed 2009)[14]
• 2007 - Leeds and Milton Keynes
• 2008 - Bristol and Winchester
• 2009 - Portsmouth
• 2010 - Chichester and Threadneedle Street, London
• 2012 - Bath, Berkhamsted, St Albans and Chancery Lane, Charlotte Street, Covent Garden (closed 2016),[15] St Paul's and Tower Hill in London[16]

In 2012 Blanc became the president of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.[17]

Also In 2012 Blanc became the Culinary Director for Eurostar.[18]

In March 2013, Raymond Blanc made the news with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, to publicise a scheme to get young people into the food and hospitality industry. Blanc took on twenty-one apprentices across the Brasserie Blanc Restaurants.[19]

Blanc is one of the patrons of the Children's Food Festival, which was held on the Northmoor Trust Estate in south Oxfordshire in June 2009.[20]

In 2014 Blanc and Kate Humble presented Kew on a Plate, a 4-part television series demonstrating the garden growth and preparation of several vegetable dishes.[21]

Blanc has two sons, Olivier and Sebastien.[26] Blanc lives in Oxford with long-term partner Natalia Traxel.[27] In 2008 he received an honorary OBE.[28]

• 1988 - Recipes from Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons (MacDonald Orbis) ISBN 978-0356120775
• 1994 - Mange: The Mysteries of the Kitchen Revealed ISBN 978-0563370161
• 1998 - Blanc Vite: Fast Fresh Food from Raymond Blanc (Murdoch Books) ISBN 978-0747217084
• 1999 - A Blanc Christmas (Headline) ISBN 978-0747275183
• 2002 - Foolproof French Cookery (BBC Worldwide) ISBN 978-0563534648
• 2005 - Simple French Cookery (BBC Books) ISBN 978-0563522850
• 2008 - A Taste of My Life (Bantam Press) ISBN 978-0593060360 (autobiography)
• 2011 - Kitchen Secrets (Bloomsbury Publishing) ISBN 978-1408816875
• 2012 - My Kitchen Table: 100 Recipes for Entertaining (BBC Books) ISBN 978-1849904353
• 2014 - Kitchen Garden Experts' (Frances Lincoln) ISBN 978-0711234963
• 2015 - Kew on a Plate with Raymond Blanc (Headline) ISBN 978-1472224378
• 2019 - The Lost Orchard (Headline) ISBN 9781472267580
• 2021 - Simply Raymond (Headline) ISBN 978-1472267603

Wikiquote has quotations related to Raymond Blanc.

• Official website
• Raymond Blanc at IMDb
• Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons Great Milton, Oxfordshire. RB's 2 star Michelin restaurant
• Hub UK biography
• Social Issues Research Centre article on Blanc's war on sugar
• Who's Who of Chefs information
• Interview with Raymond Blanc OBE