Born in San Diego in 1977, Matt Orlando worked at Le Bernardin, The Fat Duck, Per Se and Noma before opening Amass in Copenhagen (2013). The restaurant’s zero-waste ethos earned a Michelin Green Star and made Orlando a global reference for circular, flavour-first cooking. Today he coordinates the Endless Food Co in Copenhagen.
Raised in Encinitas, California, Orlando began cooking at 16 and moved through Francis Perrot’s Fairbanks Ranch, Charlie Palmer’s Aureole and Eric Ripert’s three-star Le Bernardin. Seeking broader horizons, he crossed the Atlantic to train under Raymond Blanc and Heston Blumenthal, then landed at Noma, where René Redzepi promoted him to head chef.
In July 2013 he opened Amass in a graffiti-clad former shipyard outside Copenhagen. From day one the menu paired bold Nordic flavours with rigorous waste reduction: vegetable trims became garums, stale bread morphed into ice-cream cones, and fried chicken skins flavoured an umami “soil”. Media soon dubbed him “the alchemist of leftovers.”
Amass was among the first wave of restaurants to receive the Michelin Green Star (Nordic Guide 2020) and retained it in 2022 for “extraordinary commitment to sustainable gastronomy.”
Beyond the restaurant, Orlando co-founded Broaden & Build Brewery (2019), using spent grain to create breads and ferments, and launched Endless Food Co. (2023), a research studio that up-cycles by-products into retail seasonings and snacks.
His philosophy—“deliciousness first, waste last”—shapes masterclasses and talks from Vinexpo Asia to Harvard’s Food Lab, where he urges chefs to measure flavour and footprint with equal precision. Orlando is now developing a new Copenhagen restaurant slated for late 2025, promising to push circularity even further.
