| Antonio Carluccio | |
|---|---|
| Born | Antonio Carluccio 1937 Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, Italy |
| Residence | London, England |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Other names | Antonio Carluccio OBE ORMI |
| Ethnicity | Italian |
| Occupation | Chef Author Businessman |
| Years active | 1958-present |
| Known for | His cookery His books Being the owner of Carluccio's |
| Home town | Borgofranco d'Ivrea, Piedmont |
| Religion | Atheist[1] |
| Website | |
| Antonio-Carluccio.co.uk | |
Antonio Carluccio, OBE OMRI (born 1937) is an Italian chef, restaurateur and food expert, based in London.
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Antonio Carluccio was born in Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, Italy. His father was a stationmaster, and he moved with his father's job when he was young and grew up in Piedmont. Living near the northwest, an area with great vegetation, as a child Antonio would hunt through the forest for different mushroom and fungi with his father.
Carluccio moved to Vienna at age 21 to study languages. He lived in Germany from 1962 to 1975, working as a wine merchant in Hamburg. He came to the United Kingdom in 1975 to work as a wine merchant, importing Italian wines.
Carluccio became the manager of Terence Conran's Neal Street Restaurant in Covent Garden in 1981, and became its owner in 1989. British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver began his professional career at the Neal Street Restaurant under Carluccio, which closed in 2006.
Carluccio has written thirteen books on Italian cuisine and appeared on television in the BBC's Food and Drink Programme, and in his own series Antonio Carluccio's Italian Feasts in 1996. In 2011 his travels around Italy were filmed for the BBC series Two Greedy Italians.
On 7 September 2008, it was reported that Carluccio had stabbed himself in the chest.[2] Doctors feared the blade may have punctured his lung. He was taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and later discharged.
Carluccio later admitted himself to The Priory clinic, with it reported that Carluccio was suffering from depression.[3] but latest reports are that he is suffering from exhaustion and that incident was an accident[4]
In an interview from March 2009, Carluccio revealed that although he was feeling "desperate" and "very depressed" at the time of the stabbing incident, that it was an accident that occurred while cutting a loaf of bread.[1] He also noted that the time spent at the Priory clinic was a "positive experience" that allowed him to realize how his problems paled in comparison to others he saw while there.[1]
In 1991, Antonio and his now ex-wife opened an Italian food shop, named Carluccio's. They expanded this in 1994 to a wholesale business.
In 1999, the first "Carluccio's Caffè" was opened in Market Place, London. A joint authentic Italian restaurant with integrated food shop, the premises opened to serve light, Italian-based breakfasts to diners. The chain expanded, initially across southeast England, and subsequently across the UK. In 2005, Carluccio's listed on the Alternative Investment Market as a PLC. In 2010 the company received a takeover offer from the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based enterprise, valuing Carluccio's at £90m. The transaction was approved by the shareholders and completed in October 2010.
Today, Carluccio's operates from over 45 UK locations. In addition the company has granted franchises over two territories: the first over Ireland with presently one location open in Dublin; the second over 6 countries in the Middle East including three locations presently open in Dubai.[5]
After ten years of development, Antonio rejoined the company as a consultant.
In 2007 it was reported that the company paid waiting staff less than the UK minimum wage,[6] and expected staff to make up the remaining remuneration through customers' tips. The UK law changed soon after this was revealed to ensure companies must meet the minimum required remuneration initially and that tips should not be counted towards an employee's paid salary level.
Carluccio was given the national honour of Commendatore dell' Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by the Italian government, the equivalent to a British knighthood, in 1998 for his contribution to the Italian food industry, and in 2007 he was awarded an OBE.