James Petrie leaves The Fat Duck to 'explore other opportunities'

By Peter Ruddick

16-Jun-2013 - Last updated on 17-Jun-2013 at 11:55 GMT

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James Petrie, known as Jocky, has announced he is to leave Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant business

James Petrie, head of creative development at The Fat Duck, has announced he has resigned after 11 years working for Heston Blumenthal at the three Michelin-starred restaurant.

The Scottish chef, who is known as Jocky, took to Twitter over the weekend to announce his departure from the Bray restaurant in order to 'explore other opportunities' and enjoy 'new food adventures'.

It is not yet known what the chef's next project will be.

I have resigned from my post as Head of Creative Development at The Fat Duck Experimental Kitchen.
— james petrie (@chefjocky) June 15, 2013

Petrie originally joined The Fat Duck as head pastry chef however in 2007 he was made head of creative development and was involved with developing new recipes for the group's restaurants but also for Blumenthal's numerous TV programmes.

After 11 great years working with Heston Blumenthal, I have decided the time has come to move on to explore other opportunities
— james petrie (@chefjocky) June 15, 2013

The Scottish chef trained at Perth College and after posts in England and Scotland he moved to the USA where he was working when he was appointed by Blumenthal in 2002.