The United Kingdom is home to the genius of Alan Yau, OBE in 2006, a talented chef and extraordinary entrepreneur who spans between restaurants and technology.
Alan Yau, born November 11, 1962, began his career in 1992 after arriving in the United Kingdom in 1975 with his family.
The first of Yau's many successful ventures was "Wagamama", a ramen bar founded in 1992, which today boasts nearly 200 locations. He sold the chef's business in 1997 to focus on other projects. Two years later, he founded "Busaba Eathai", a chain of casual dining Thai restaurants, and "Hakkasan", initially a high-end Chinese restaurant that later expanded to include nightlife entertainment. "Hakkasan" received a MICHELIN Star in 2003. In 2004, the chef launched "Yauatcha", a chain of dim sum restaurants and pastry shops, whose main location received a MICHELIN Star in 2005.
In 2008, Yau sold all these businesses to focus on other ventures, but not before being named OBE in the New Year Honour's List for services to the hospitality industry in 2006.
In 2008, Yau partnered with Rocco Princi to start "Princi", an Italian bakery in Soho, but in 2016 he sold his shares to Starbucks. Also, in the year of changes, the chef opened "Cha Cha Moon" at Kingly Court, London, a "fast casual" Chinese noodle bar in collaboration with the Kuwaiti company Kout Food Group, which closed in 2016. Yau continued his entrepreneurial endeavors by launching "Babaji" from 2014, which offers Turkish cuisine, "Duck and Rice", a Chinese pub with comfort food in Soho, and "Park Chinois", a Chinese restaurant listed in the MICHELIN guide for old school entertainment inspired by the popular dishes of the restaurants and supper clubs of 1930s Shanghai.
In 2017, Alan moved into the software world and founded Softchow, a taste aggregation platform of which he is still CEO. Two years later, The Asian Awards honored Alan for his culinary work with the "Outstanding Achievement in the Arts" award.
