1 week Ago By Jeremy Repanich
Last year, we released our first edition of the Power List , a ranking of the people who most influence fine dining in America today. But we know that power is fluid, with dining empires rising and falling, and trends in food being as fleeting as fashion. We wanted to take the pulse of the industry yet again.
So we called on nearly 200 luminaries from across the restaurant world—from Michelin-starred chefs to James Beard Award-winning restaurateurs to prominent investors to architects to CEOs of restaurant tech platforms—to tell us who they believed were the most powerful among their peers. We asked voters to not define fine dining too narrowly—as just tasting menus and overly formal service—because for us fine dining is about ambition in the kitchen paired with attentive hospitality in the dining room. And we encouraged voters to be expansive in how they thought about who held power: Perhaps it’s the chefs who most influence others creatively; the restaurateurs growing dining empires; the investors working behind the scenes to fund top talent; the real estate developers that can attract great restaurant groups; or the media figures who can drive or deter business with their opinions.
Ultimately, we wanted to know who moves the needle creatively and economically. With those parameters in mind, each voter was allowed to select 10 people they thought held the most power in the industry. In the instance of a voter believing a duo or trio’s influence was inextricably linked, they were allowed to group them as one entry on their ballot.
We sought gender, racial, age, and geographic diversity in our voting body to give the best possible snapshot of the restaurant world right now. But before we unveil this year’s list, we want to acknowledge the passing of chef Jamaal James Kent , who ranked in the top 25 of last year’s list and with the growth of the hospitality group now named in his honor, was poised to rise even further as he became an undoubted leader in American fine dining. Although voting for this year’s edition began after his passing, scores of people still wrote in Kent’s name and mourned the loss of a person who had such a positive effect on the industry.
But its clear his legacy will live on, as one of his proteges was voted to our list of the next generation of fine dining power players , and the man who is taking the helm at Kent’s Michelin two-starred Saga will make his power list debut this year. Their success shows how the restaurant world is constantly changing, offering new opportunities for people to rise. Here are the 50 most powerful people in American fine dining for 2024.
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