The vanishings keep on happening. Chefs who have run wonderful restaurants fold their operations and disappear from the world of haute public dining rooms. It’s happened in New York and in London in my experience. I’m sure you’ve noticed it, too, wherever you are a regular – or were, until the chef up and left.
While non-disclosure agreements keep the specifics of these positions confidential, there are semi-exclusive hires that give a sense of why they can be attractive. Had he come into money? In a way, he had: Liam had been hired to cook for the billionaire Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, on 74-acre Necker Island, which he owns in its entirety, in the British Virgin Islands.
To qualify for the lower end of the category, you need a net worth of $US30 million. Even that may not be elite enough to manage your wealth through a family office – a dowdy term that belies the assets involved. To be able to staff the operation, the usual estimate is a net worth of $US50 million. There are now about 8000 single-family offices in the world. Most are in the US and Canada, where many of the richest people in the world reside.