"I am so excited to be opening my first restaurant"

The Staff Canteen

Editor

Roux Scholar Tom Barnes has revealed his new Skof venture will open in manchester in spring 2024.

Skof marks the debut restaurant from Tom Barnes and is expected to serve dishes designed to remove the formalities associated with tasting menu restaurants.

The news comes after an already successful career for Tom, who won the Roux Scholarship at the age of 25 in 2014, as well as an award-winning 12 years at Simon Rogan's Umbel Restaurant group.

Commenting on the new opening, Tom explained that he chose Manchester due to it's ever-changing food scene and warm hospitality from punters and businesses across the city.

“I am so excited to be opening my first restaurant in Manchester. It feels like the right place for me. The food scene is changing so frequently, and everyone I’ve met has been incredibly welcoming," he said.

Tom added: "Growing up in Barrow-in-Furness, I knew I wouldn’t want to be too far from my childhood home and my family, so it’s the perfect place.”

As head chef at Rogan & Co, Tom helped the restaurant gain one Michelin star before guiding L'Enclume as executive chef to winning it's third star in 2022.

Commenting on Tom's new venture, three Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan said: "I’m so excited for Tom, our former executive chef in the north-west, who will be opening his first restaurant Skof next year. Moments like these make me so happy, and it’s pretty special to be able to support a chef who has worked with me for so long to go on to realise his dreams."

Simon added: "I’m incredibly proud of Tom and everything he has accomplished. We’ve been working towards this moment for a while now, and I can’t wait for him to be able to show the world what he can do."

In 2020, Tom took part in series 15 of the Great British Menu, where he won the main course at the final banquet.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Skof (@skof_manchester)

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.