Yianni Papoutsis
Born
UK
Culinary career
Cooking styleStreet food / Fast food
Current restaurant(s)
  • None
Previous restaurant(s)
    • MeatEasy
    • MEATliquor Singapore
    • MEATwagon (street food truck)
    • MEATliquor
    • MEATmarket
    • MEATmission
    • MEATliquor Brighton
    • MEATliquor Leeds
    • MEATliquor Queensway
    • MEATliquor SW11
    • MEATliquorED
    • MEATliquor Croydon
    • MEATliquor Kings X
    • MEATliquor Brixton
    • MEATliquor N1
    • and radio station MEATtransMISSION

Yianni Papoutsis (Greek: Γιάννη Παπουτσής) is the co-founder and former Creative Director of the Meat chain of restaurants.[1] He previously worked at the English National Ballet as a production technician. The business started as one of the first street food trucks in the UK, the Meat Wagon,[2] and after teaming with Scott Collins and opening a pop-up restaurant, they opened thirteen restaurants, including twelve in the UK and one in Singapore which closed.[3] He is now a consultant in the hospitality and entertainment industry.

Biography

Papoutsis was born in England,[4] and during his childhood, he split his time between there and Greece. As a teenager he moved to Denmark to find work.[5] Papoutsis worked for the English National Ballet for fifteen years as a production technician.[6] His first experience of cooking burgers for the public was at US festival Burning Man.[7] In 2009, he opened a street food van serving gourmet hamburgers called MEATwagon as a hobby.[6][7] The first truck was vandalised and destroyed, and the second was stolen. This meant that Papoutsis was forced to cook outside on rented equipment in all weathers.[6]

He met Scott Collins in 2010 in a car park in Peckham, South London where the MEATwagon was running. Collins invited Papoutsis to pull up at one of his pubs,[7] and the two would eventually become business partners.[6] In 2011, they opened a pop-up restaurant, #MEATeasy above a pub in New Cross, London on 10 January after having conceived it with Collins on New Years Day.[6][7] It was only after opening this restaurant that he was able to leave his job at the English National Ballet.[6] He opened his first permanent location entitled MEATliquor near Oxford Street on 11 November 2011.[8] MEATmarket at Covent Garden,[6] and MEATmission in Hoxton shortly followed which was then followed by their radio station MEATtransMISSION.com. MEATliquor Brighton opened in September 2013.[7] and MEATliquor Leeds in September 2014. They went on to open MEATliquor Queensway, MEATliquor SW11, MEATliquorED, MEATliquor Croydon, MEATliquor Kings X, MEATliquor Brixton, MEATliquor N1 and MEATliquor Singapore.[3]

Papoutsis was invited to speak on a committee about fast food start-up companies at Downing Street and advised on policy proposals relating to the economic and social benefits afforded by the food and beverage industry.[7] He launched a cookbook with Collins in September 2014, co-written with DBC Pierre entitled The MEATliquor Chronicles.[9] Collins and Papoutsis' research trips to the United States for the cookbook were covered by GQ.[10] He has been described as "a pioneer of street food" by Bloomberg Businessweek.[11] He has collaborated with numerous Michelin starred chefs including Fergus Henderson,[12] Nieves Barragan,[13] Michael O'Hare and Sally Abe[14] and with Gresham Blake on men's suits and performance underwear.[1] He was named in the Evening Standard as one of the 1000 Most Influential People in London in both 2012 & 2013,[15] in January 2015, by Debrett as one of Britain's 500 most influential people[16] and in 2016 he was included in Restaurant magazine's 'Power List' of the 100 most powerful people in the restaurant industry.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Yianni Papoutsis | The Gresham Blake Lookbook". greshamblake.com.
  2. ↑ "The #MeatLiquor effect: did dirty dining all start in a Peckham car". Evening Standard. London. 28 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 "MEATliquor – The original MEAT. Come hungry, leave wobbly". MEATliquor.
  4. ↑ Montgomery, Hugh (27 May 2012). "Yianni Papoutsis: 'A Las Vegas buffet is one of my favourite places to people-watch'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Whittle, Natalie (18 November 2011). "FT Foodies: Yianni Papoutsis". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Morgan, Eleanor (15 July 2012). "How to make money from street food". The Observer. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dean, Will (4 May 2013). "Bun fight: An eat-all-you-can tour of America with MEATliquor's Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Behind the scenes at Meat Liquor". Time Out. 10 November 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  9. ↑ Stewart, Victoria (25 April 2013). "Eating at altitude with Yianni Papoutsis and Scott Collins". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Morris, Andy (2 July 2013). "Eating the best of the Big Apple with the men behind Meat Liquor". GQ. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Vines, Richard (27 February 2012). "American Barbecue, Dead Hippie Burger Worth the Wait in London". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "JavaScript is disabled in your browser". Thecaterer.com. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  13. ↑ "MEATliquor X Barrafina create a limited edition burger -". WJ London Lifestyle. 29 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Meat Liquor has teamed up with The Harwood Arms to create a Michelin-star burger". Time Out London.
  15. ↑ "London's 1000 most influential people 2012: Scenesters, Foodies". Evening Standard. London. 8 November 2012.
  16. ↑ "Debrett names the most influential people in food & drink | Craft Guild of Chefs". craftguildofchefs.org.
  17. ↑ "The Power List: The 100 most powerful people in the restaurant industry". bighospitality.co.uk.
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