Forest, Fire and Purpose: A conversation with Chef Director Luke Holder, Hartnett Holder & Co
- James Massoud
- Jul 2
- 5 min read
After honing his craft in some of the world’s most exacting kitchens – from Florence’s three star Enoteca Pinchiorri to the buzzing restaurants of Dubai and London – Chef Luke Holder returned to the English countryside to co-found Hartnett Holder & Co at Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest. But don’t mistake rustic for relaxed. Luke’s ethos is razor-sharp: local produce, elemental fire cooking, ethical kitchen culture, and a commitment to serving with purpose. In this exclusive conversation with The Knife, he reflects on his culinary philosophy, explains why he banned booze in the kitchen, and shares how The Forest Kitchen is changing the way we think about food, fire and place.
Your time at Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence was a turning point in your culinary philosophy. What did you learn there that fundamentally reshaped the way you cook and think about ingredients today?
Enoteca Pinchiorri was a masterclass in reverence. You walk into that kitchen and you immediately feel the weight of responsibility – not just to the guest, but to the ingredients themselves. What I learned there was that simplicity isn’t simple at all. Every element on the plate has to earn its place. That discipline, that obsession with sourcing the best and doing the least to let it shine. It’s never left me.
From Michelin kitchens in Dubai to rustic Italian-inspired dishes in the New Forest – how has travel shaped your identity as a chef, and what common threads have remained throughout your journey?
Travel has made me curious and humble. Cooking in different cultures teaches you quickly that you don’t know everything and that’s a gift. But no matter where I’ve been, the thread that ties it all together is respect: for the produce, for the culture it came from, for the team behind the pass. Whether it’s a refined dish in Dubai or something rustic over fire in the Forest, it’s all got to come from a place of honesty.
You’ve been a vocal advocate for ethical hospitality for over a decade. What does ‘Serving with Purpose’ mean to you personally – and how does it manifest in the day-to-day at HH&Co?
For me, 'Serving with Purpose' is about being awake to the impact we have; on our teams, our suppliers, our environment. It means asking: are we doing this because it’s how it’s always been done, or because it’s the right way to do it? At HH&Co, that purpose is baked into the everyday – from how we manage rotas, to the producers we work with, to the conversations we have as a team. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being better, consistently.
From booze-free kitchens to fair rota systems, you’ve reimagined what a modern, responsible kitchen can look like. Have any of these decisions surprised you in terms of how positively they’ve impacted team morale?
Absolutely. You don’t always realise how heavy the old systems were until you step outside of them. Removing booze from the kitchen culture, for example, didn’t just improve performance, it made the space safer, more creative. Fair rotas? That’s not just logistics, that’s a statement of respect. And respect, funnily enough, breeds loyalty, energy, joy. Those changes have transformed our team culture more than I ever imagined.
You’ve partnered with Belu Water as part of their Tastemaker campaign. Why was that collaboration a natural fit for your philosophy, and how do you see chef voices driving change in sustainability?
Belu walks the talk. They’ve found a way to be commercially sharp and ethically focused. That’s the future of hospitality. For me, it made complete sense to align with a brand that shares our ethos. Chefs have real power – we’re storytellers, tastemakers, community builders. If we use our platforms well, we can shift perceptions and expectations, not just on the plate, but in how the entire supply chain operates.
The Forest Kitchen is built around elemental cooking – fire, seasonality, simplicity. What draws you to cooking with fire, and what do you think it awakens in both the chef and the diner?
Cooking with fire taps into something ancient, primal, even. There’s nowhere to hide. You have to understand the heat, the ingredient, the timing and it demands instinct, not ego. For the diner, it strips everything back. It becomes about flavour, smoke, the moment. It’s deeply human. We need more of that in food right now. More connection, less choreography.
With guest chefs like Tom Brown, Valentine Warner and Jess Filbey joining you under the trees, how do you curate these collaborations to reflect both the HH&Co ethos and each chef’s signature style?
We invite chefs who are grounded, people who cook with a sense of self and purpose. It’s not about replicating what they do in their own kitchens, it’s about inviting them into our world and asking, "What would you cook if this was your forest for the day?" The beauty is in the blend: our place, their spirit, fire in the middle. That’s where the magic happens.
The setting for The Forest Kitchen feels as integral to the experience as the food itself. How important is a sense of place to you when creating memorable meals?
It’s everything. You can serve a Michelin-level plate in a sterile room and still have it fall flat. But give someone a simple dish made with ingredients from the soil beneath their feet, eaten under a canopy of trees? That sticks with them. Food tastes better when it tells a story and place is often the first chapter.
With produce coming from your new allotment at Four Acre Farm, you’re closing the gap between soil and plate. How has that changed the way your team plans menus or connects with ingredients?
It’s been a game-changer. The chefs don’t just write menus, they dig, they plant, they pick. That changes how you think. You stop chasing exotic ingredients and start celebrating the humble – the carrot that took three months, the herb that only grows two weeks a year. It makes food more honest, more seasonal, more rooted.
You’ve long championed local sourcing – but how do you balance that with the creative curiosity chefs naturally have for global flavours and techniques?
It’s not either/or. You can honour local produce while drawing on global influence. A Hampshire beetroot can be treated with the same reverence as a Japanese yuzu – it’s about technique, not tokenism. What matters is intention. Are we using something to elevate the dish or just to look clever? Creativity needs a compass. For me, that compass is provenance.
How do you approach training young chefs in a kitchen that prioritises purpose as much as polish? What do you hope they take with them from their time at HH&Co?
I want them to leave here with more than knife skills. I want them to understand leadership, resilience, respect. We talk about flavour and finesse, but we also talk about rest, boundaries, collaboration. This isn’t a bootcamp; it’s a craft. If they leave here a better cook and a better person, then we’ve done our job.
Finally, if there’s one conversation you wish more chefs and restaurateurs were having right now – what would it be, and why is it so important to the future of hospitality?
Mental health. Without question. We’ve glamorised burnout for too long in this industry. Worn exhaustion like a badge of honour. That needs to change. A kitchen can be a place of creativity, care, and joy but only if we look after our people. The future of hospitality depends on it.
