Mark Poynton is one of the UK’s leading chefs and is Chef Patron of the Michelin starred Alimentum restaurant in Cambridge.

Mark entered the world of hospitality at the tender age of 15 when a friend’s mother got him a job as a part time waiter at the Queen Hotel in Chester. After just six months as a waiter he persuaded the hotel’s executive chef, Ian McDowall, that he was serious about cooking and his career behind the stoves began. 18 months with Paul Kitching at the Michelin-starred Juniper restaurant in Altrincham followed before Mark made a career-defining move by joining Daniel Clifford at Cambridge’s two Michelin-starred Midsummer House.

Mark applies classic cooking techniques to seasonal British produce to achieve complexity of both flavour and texture. He is serious about the effect that his business has on the ecosystems it relies on and has won an RSPCA Good Business Award and Innovation Award for his attention to animal welfare, down to ethical foie gras and exclusively sustainable meat and fish.