Wonder around parts of Cornwall and you can see Rick Stein's food empire. Padstow alone has four restaurants including, The Seafood Restaurant, St. Petroc's Bistro, Stein's Fish & Chips, and The Cornish Arms with other restaurants spread out across the county.
His gastronomic reach extends to Winchester in Hampshire, Sandbanks in Dorset, and Barnes in London. Beyond British shores, Stein also presides as head chef and co-owner at the "Rick Stein at Bannisters" locations in Mollymook and Port Stephens, Australia.
At 77 years old, Rick Stein has become a beloved figure in British cuisine, famed for his top-notch restaurants, bestselling cookery books and presenting numerous TV shows. When he's not on TV, Stein divides his time between London, the picturesque Cornish coast, and sunny Australia.
But what do we know about his career and life off TV?
Early life of Rick Stein and his restaurant empire
Rick Stein was born on January 4, 1947 in Churchill, Oxfordshire and was raised on a farm. After being educated at a prep school outside Tewkesbury, Malvern Wells and Uppingham School,
He partially completed a hotel management traineeship with British Transport Hotels at its Great Western hotel in Paddington, London, before taking an English degree at Oxford.
Following his father's suicide, a then 19-year-old Rick Stein went to Australia, where he worked as a labourer in an abattoir and as a clerk in a naval dockyard.
Rick returned to Padstow after his global travels and he opened a quayside nightclub known for its freeze-dried curries and its frequent brawls, which led to its closure by the police within a year. Stein converted it into a small harbour-side bistro – the Seafood Restaurant – in 1975.
It was joined by a café in 1995, St Petroc’s Bistro and hotel in 1997 and a deli in the late 1990s. Stein then added the Padstow Seafood School and Stein’s Gift Shop in 2000, accommodation site St Edmund’s House in 2001, a pâtisserie in 2003 and a fish and chip shop in 2004.
Rick Stein's family heartbreak
In 1965, Rick Stein's father Eric took his own life at a cliff near the family’s holiday home on Trevose Head, a National Trust beauty spot in North Cornwall.
Eric, who had bipolar disorder, had just retired from his role as Managing Director at Distillers Company – then involved in the marketing of controversial birth defect drug Thalidomide.
Rick later discovered he had made several attempts to take his own life before this. He had never been close with his father. "I suspect that if he had survived until I was in my twenties, our relationship would have improved," Stein told the Independent.
Distraught by his father’s sudden death, Rick went to Australia where he worked in an abattoir and in a naval dockyard before taking some time out by travelling to New Zealand and Mexico. But it wasn’t until he reached his 70s that Rick revealed he had finally forgiven his father for what he did.
He told the Radio Times in 2020: "The suicide of a parent is a kick in the teeth. But I have to say that latterly – and I never would have believed this – I’m much more aware of my father’s positive side.
"The older I get, the more I want to be like him. I’m so much older than he was when he died. But there you go. You know, I think I have probably forgiven him."
Inside Rick Stein's relationships and children
Rick met his first wife Jill Newstead in the early 1970s after he came back from Australia and settled in Padstow, Cornwall. They married in 1975 and that same year opened The Seafood Restaurant, a small bistro on the harbourside in Padstow that remains there today and would become the start of the Stein restaurant empire.
They had three children together, including chef-director and TV star Jack, Ed who manages businesses in the Stein empire and co-director of the family business Charlie.
They were married for 27 years until it emerged Rick had been having an affair with his Australian publicist Sarah Burns, who is 20 years his junior.
Despite Sarah being on the other side of the world, Rick managed to keep the affair secret from Jill for five years - and only found out when she discovered a heap of international phone bills.
Rick and Sarah were both slapped across the face in a packed restaurant after Jill uncovered the affair. Back in 2013, Rick told the Mirror he knew he was in the wrong but said overwork and stress was to blame for the affair.
He said: "The business was eating us alive. What happened had nothing to do with Jill. It’s more to do with the nature of the restaurant business - it’s just so bloody demanding.
“It takes over your life and our lives didn’t exist outside it. The more successful we got, we had to keep the restaurant going all year and then we didn’t go away on our holidays.
"We didn’t have a life outside the business and we kind of fell out of love. I’d never [been unfaithful] before and I certainly won’t do it again, that’s for sure. I’m just so happy now. Obviously, it’s not great for the person who has been left, but it’s not great for you either."
Rick begged Jill to take him back but she refused and he went back to Sarah. They married in 2011 and he now splits his time between London, Australia and Cornwall.
But he remains on good terms with ex Jill, who still helps run his empire.
Rick Stein's health problems as he thought about death 'big time'
In 2022, Rick suffered from symptoms of breathlessness for five or six years and his cardiologist told Stein that his aorta was failing.
Rick Stein required open heart surgery and was told he would die without the operation and drugs could temporarily delay surgery.
He underwent the operation in 2022 at the Royal Brompton Hospital and Rick reflected: "And then, a bit over a year ago, he said, ‘You’re going to have to have the op.’"
He added: "But to be honest, having had the operation and recovered, the improvement in my health has left me tremendously optimistic.
"Even though at my age and with the normal realities of life I’m not going to last that much longer, I think as long as you’ve got your health and you’re optimistic generally and enjoying your life, you don’t tend to ponder too much about how little life you’ve got left."
His second wife Sarah Burns, known as ‘Sas’, looked after him during his recovery and Rick eventually returned to manage his restaurants and TV work.
Inside Rick Stein's cosy life in Cornwall
According to Hello! Magazine, Stein and his wife Sarah typically share their time between the sun-kissed climes of Australia and the UK. Many of Stein's television programmes have been filmed within his own residences, including his coastal haven in Padstow.
The coastal town hosts four of Stein's dining establishments: The Seafood Restaurant, St. Petroc's Bistro, Stein's Fish & Chips, and The Cornish Arms.
Stein is often found at his home in Padstow, and it's not hard to see why. His home boasts a lavish nautical-themed kitchen with a large island and porcelain worktops, as well as a cosy living room complete with a beige sofa and an extensive bookcase.
In a previous chat with CornwallLive, Stein revealed that he "always" comes back to Cornwall, despite his global travels.
He shared: "For years I've been fortunate enough to travel the world but I always come back to Cornwall. The county's renowned for its rugged coastlines and sweeping beaches but there's so much more to Cornwall.
"As a child, I remember the thrill of crossing into Cornwall. It felt like stepping into a magical land. I want to show people what this place means to me."
