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Part of a clutch of Irish and Northern Irish chefs powering the dynamism of the UK’s restaurant scene, Shauna Froydenlund acts as joint chef patron at Marcus Wareing’s eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant at The Berkeley hotel in Belgravia, a position she has held for more than 10 years.
Froydenlund was born in Londonderry in Northern Ireland to a family of restaurateurs, and was keen to get into the hospitality industry from a young age. At 18, she moved to England to complete her education, enrolling in a course studying Hospitality and Business Management with Culinary Arts at Sheffield Hallam University. After finishing her degree, Froydenlund was lucky enough to secure a work placement at Gordon Ramsay’s acclaimed London restaurant Petrus, which at that time was being headed up by Marcus Wareing. Froydenlund’s kitchen skills impressed Wareing, resulting in the offer of a permanent position at Petrus. She has been part of Wareing’s restaurant portfolio ever since.
It was at Petrus that Froydenlund met her future husband Mark and climbed up the ranks of Marcus Wareing’s restaurant empire to become joint chef patron of his flagship Belgravia site, alongside her husband. During her time working for Wareing, Froydenlund has also worked on the launch of his more casual British restaurant The Gilbert Scott, which is found inside the St Pancras Renaissance hotel.
In 2018, Froydenlund made her television debut by appearing as a contestant on the BBC cooking competition, The Great British Menu. That year, the series was dedicated to celebrating the heroes of our NHS and Froydenlund was pitched against fellow chefs James Devine and Tommy Heaney in a battle to win a place at the final banquet. The series was momentous for Froydenlund for another reason too, as the chef discovered she was 12 weeks pregnant while filming the show.