THREE MICHELIN STARRED CHEF JEAN-GEORGES VONGERICHTEN, FOUNDER, JG KITCHEN & JG DINING ROOM, DUBAI

You started as a chef, when did you decide to take on an entrepreneurial role?

I worked for someone else for the first fifteen years of my life. In 1991, I decided to open my own restaurant. Understanding I had to learn the business side of running a restaurant, I went back to school and registered in Hunter College in New York. I was the youngest in college at the age of 33. It was then when I opened my first restaurant, a bistro named Jojo and is still a success 24 years later. After one year, I was inspired to do more. I now own and operate 26 restaurants worldwide.

What advice do you have for other chefs who aspire to own their own restaurant one day?

It’s very important to be able to have a strong mind to be able to separate the stress that comes with owning a restaurant with your personal life. Also, if you can’t learn to trust people to take care of your business for you, then you will not last.

You have opened two concepts under one roof with di erent price o erings tell us more about this latest trend.

We want to change the uncomfortable perception people have about fine dining. At JG, the customer has the option to sit at the bar, have a casual dining experience or a fine dining one. The interior was built in a way whereby the customer first enters into JG Kitchen which is more of a café/bar offering a menu at an average check price. This will ease the customer and automatically change his perception before entering the fine dining side. Both restaurants housed under the same roof will complement one another and offer the customer variety.

What kitchen tool could you not live without?

I love kitchen gadgets; my most essential one is the microplane grater.