Food retail & catering · 2019—2025
D’Ambrosi
Fine Foods.
Co-founded by Andrew D’Ambrosi. Built around his cooking.
Stow-on-the-Wold · The Cotswolds
A chef-led idea.
Andrew D’Ambrosi co-founded D’Ambrosi Fine Foods with Jesse D’Ambrosi and served as its executive chef from 2019 to 2025. He created the food concept: restaurant-quality dishes prepared for people to take home, finish simply and share generously.
The cooking brought together Andrew’s New York restaurant background, American food culture and European technique. Southern fried chicken, lobster rolls, slow-smoked meats, seasonal vegetables, house-made charcuterie and celebratory menus became part of the shop’s identity.
How I built the food offer
Designed for life
beyond the restaurant.
- The brief
- Create a food shop with the character of a restaurant and the convenience of taking dinner home.
- My contribution
- I co-founded the business and created the culinary concept and food range. That meant developing dishes for the counter, takeaway, home finishing and catering: food that could travel and still feel generous and considered when served.
- The outcome
- Southern fried chicken, lobster rolls, slow-smoked meats, seasonal salads and prepared meals gave the shop a recognisable food identity. The business and cooking attracted national coverage, including the Financial Times, Monocle, The Times and Tatler.
For me, the lesson is practical: the format matters as much as the recipe. Food has to suit how it will be prepared, sold and eaten. I bring that thinking to every retail and catering brief.
The beginning
Andrew D’Ambrosi founded the business with Jesse D’Ambrosi and developed the culinary concept for a chef-led food shop in the Cotswolds.
Opening in Stow
D’Ambrosi Fine Foods opened in Stow-on-the-Wold with Andrew as chef-patron and executive chef.
National recognition
The shop and Andrew’s cooking were featured by the Financial Times, Monocle, The Times, The Guardian, Tatler and other UK publications.
A lasting culinary identity
Andrew left D’Ambrosi Fine Foods after six years. The business continues to serve signature food he created, carrying forward the culinary identity he established. His career moved forward in London.
Contemporary record
Documented
at the time.
The story is recorded in independent coverage published while Andrew was leading the business.