Born in Edinburgh, Kitchin attended Dollar Academy, a boarding school in Dollar, Clackmannanshire. After leaving school, he studied catering at Perth College before beginning an apprenticeship at the Gleneagles Hotel, near Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross. He has worked with Pierre Koffmann, Alain Ducasse, and Guy Savoy, all of whom have been awarded three Michelin stars. At the age of 29, he was awarded his first Michelin star, after The Kitchin had been in business for six months. This made Kitchin the youngest Michelin star recipient in the world. Albert Roux is reported to have said that Tom is the chef in Scotland most likely to win three Michelin stars. His cooking style is to combine Frenchtechniques with seasonal Scottish ingredients, a style discussed in depth in his 2010 book From Nature to Plate. In July 2010, he opened his second restaurant, Castle Terrace, near Edinburgh Castle with chef Dominic Jack. Chef Dominic Jack owns and runs the restaurant as a sister restaurant to The Kitchin, using the same style and "nature to plate philosophy". In 2010 he was voted Observer Food MonthlyCook of the Year. In 2013, Kitchin and Jack opened Gastro-pub, The Scran & Scallie, in the Stockbridge area of the city. A 4th Edinburgh venue, Southside Scran, opened in 2018. Despite its name, it is located in Bruntsfield rather than the city's Southside. Kitchin opened his first venture outside of Edinburgh also in 2018, The Bonnie Badger, a pub in Gullane, East Lothian. In January 2020, it was found that three of Kitchin's venues were failed by hygiene inspectors in less than a year.
Media appearances
He has appeared as a guest judge and mentor on MasterChef, and has competed on the Great British Menu. He hosted 2010 MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker for work experience at The Kitchin. In 2013 he appeared as one of the mentors in the series The Chef's Protege.
Personal life
Tom is married to Michaela Kitchin, who previously worked with the Savoy Group, and designed the interior for Kitchin's second restaurant, Castle Terrace. Tom and Michaela have four children. Since Christmas 2015, Tom has been a celebrity supporter of global international development charity, Mary's Meals, which has its headquarters in Scotland, by supporting its annual "One More For Christmas" campaign. As part of this campaign Tom featured in a video showing viewers how to make "The Most Amazing Christmas Dinner", where he demonstrates how to set a place at the virtual dinner table, which provides a year's worth of meals for a child, at a cost of just £12.20. As of December 2016, Mary's Meals provides daily meals in school for 1,187,104 children in 12 developing countries.
