Alan Yau

Alan Yau
Born
Yau Tak-wai

(1962-11-11) 11 November 1962 (age 61)
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, restaurateur
Years active1992–present
Known forWagamama, Hakkasan, Busaba Eathai, Yauatcha, Princi, Park Chinois, Babaji, Softchow
TitleCEO of Softchow
AwardsMichelin Star (Hakkasan, 2002)
Michelin Star (Yauatcha, 2005)
OBE (2006)
Alan Yau
Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinQiu Déwei
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationYau Tak Wai
Jyutpingjau1 dak1wai1

Alan Yau (Chinese: 丘德威) OBE (born 11 November 1962) is a Hong Kong-born British restaurateur who founded the Wagamama chain in the United Kingdom. Of Hakka ancestry, he was born in Sha Tau Kok, Hong Kong and moved to King's Lynn, Norfolk in 1975 with his family.

Alan Yau started his career in 1992 founding Wagamama and was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honour's List for services to the restaurant industry. Following that, Alan founded numerous ventures in gastronomy such as Hakkasan (awarded a Michelin Star in 2003), Yauatcha (awarded Michelin star in 2005) and Park Chinois. In 2016 Alan pivoted into the software world and founded Softchow, a taste aggregation platform.[1]

In April 2019, The Asian Awards honoured Alan for his culinary work with the "Outstanding Achievement in the Arts" award.[2]

  1. ^ "Yau comes out restaurant 'retirement' for third time to launch Yamabahce". bighospitality.co.uk. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  2. ^ "The Asian Awards Winners". New Asian Post. Retrieved 4 September 2019.[permanent dead link]