Oliver Garrioch: From burnout to Chef of the Year and beyond

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Oliver Garrioch was raised on the smell of dirty chef whites. Both his parents were chefs, and the “oniony, smoky, deep friary” scent of their uniforms after a shift is one of his earliest memories. So it’s fitting that, on the latest episode of My Jacket, the newly crowned Australian Professional Chef of the Year admits he never actually wanted to be a chef.

“I’m so glad that I am now,” he says.

Garrioch, 30, started his apprenticeship at 16 at Hillstone St Lucia in Brisbane. It was Gerard’s Bistro in Fortitude Valley, freshly awarded two hats, that rewired him. There he broke down his first suckling pig, cooked Middle Eastern food over fire and learned to use spices properly, a flavour profile he still returns to today.

Stokehouse Q then showed him what a healthy kitchen could look like: a team of around 30, split evenly between men and women, with breaks, staff meal and real conversations about progression. That contrast matters, because Garrioch came up at a turning point for the industry. He has been shouted at, burnt and had things thrown at him. “That is real. That does happen to people,” he says. “Not so much now.”

His take on why it had to change is refreshingly simple. “We’re not saving lives. It’s a serious industry, but at the end of the day, we’re just cooking hot dinners for people.”

After moving to Melbourne in late 2020 as sous chef for the opening of Nick & Nora’s, Garrioch joined Andrew McConnell’s Trader House group, working through Cutler & Co and Cumulus Inc. Then his body pushed back. Nursing a back injury and running on empty, he began to question whether cooking was a sustainable career. “I’m trained to be a chef. That’s all I’ve known since I was 16,” he says.

So he stepped away, taking a sales role at hospitality supply store Chef’s Hat in South Melbourne. The year out taught him patience and people skills, and he credits it with making him a better leader when he returned to the group via Morning Market and Gimlet. Today he’s part of the opening team at Côte Basque, McConnell’s new Basque-inspired grill, which he calls “one of the most important venues opening in Australia at the moment”.

Oliver competing in the 2026 Chef of the year competition at Food and hospitality week

A relaxed mindset also carried him through this year’s Australian Professional Chef of the Year. After nerves got the better of him in the 2024 grand final, he went in simply to cook food he’d want to eat, even when organiser Peter Wright told him to hurry up. “I’m not getting paid right now,” he says. “I’m just making something tasty.”

He has since been named a Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year finalist for the second time, and launched his first pop-up, ORSUS, cooking for 60 colleagues through Trader House’s Around the Table series.

His advice to young chefs? Work hard, stay curious and don’t fear mistakes. “I’ve made almost every mistake you can make, and I’ve come back from it.”

This episode of My Jacket is brought to you by Bega Foodservice.