How do you scale up a Michelin-star restaurant? How do you take the skill, passion and dedication that it takes to get a Michelin star and then do it again, and again and again and again?

A Michelin star is a mark of “outstanding cooking”, according to the Michelin Guide, which awards the stars. It is a mark of exceptionalism. You are not meant to be able to duplicate it. The five criteria used by the Michelin Guide for awarding stars are the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavours, the mastery of techniques, the personality of the chef as expressed through their cuisine and, finally, consistency both across the entire menu and over time. This means a Michelin star is not only about being exceptional, but about being consistently exceptional.

So it is remarkable that Simon Rogan has five restaurants with Michelin stars. This includes L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria, which has three stars, Rogan & Co, which is also in Cartmel and has one star, Aulis London, which has one, Ion Harbour in Malta, which has two, and Roganic in Hong Kong, which has one. That is a total of eight stars across five restaurants in three different countries.

On top of that Rogan’s company, Umbel Restaurant Group, has three other small Aulis restaurants in Phuket, Thailand, Hong Kong and Cartmel, as well as Henrock, another restaurant in Cumbria, and The Baker & The Bottleman, a bakery and wine bar in Hong Kong.

There are around 3,000 restaurants around the world with Michelin stars. Only 145 have three stars, the top mark, including nine in the UK. L’Enclume is the only restaurant with three Michelin stars in the UK that is outside London and the south-east. L’Enclume was Rogan’s first restaurant and opened in 2002.

Rogan grew up in Hampshire and when he was looking to set up his first restaurant he focused on the south of England. He had never been to Cartmel but was tipped off about an empty building in the village that used to be a blacksmith’s workshop.

“The proximity to nature and being able to serve food in a setting literally surrounded by the produce we were cooking with was the main appeal in opening here,” Rogan says. “More practically, the rents were much more reasonable for a first-time restaurateur than anything I’d have been able to afford in London or the south of England.

“When we opened, we were absolutely the first restaurant of our kind in the area. In a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, getting people here was definitely a challenge. Thankfully now it’s become part of the experience – and we’ve become very good friends with the local taxi drivers.”

Sam Ward grew up in Grange-over-Sands, a neighbouring town to Cartmel. He took a job as a bar manager at Rogan & Co after moving back to the area with his girlfriend after university. He initially applied to be a waiter at L’Enclume, but had worked in a bar while at university, so Rogan asked him if he fancied the bar job instead.

“It feels like a lifetime ago now, but I remember his passion for hospitality was evident from the get-go,” says Rogan.

“I was so underqualified for that job,” Ward recalls. “I remember calling my old boss – and I’ve always relied on people in my network for support along the way – and said: ‘I’m going to be running this bar and we’re building it. How do I get stuff?’ And he was like: ‘What do you mean, stuff?’

“‘Well, beer and wine and things like that. I’ve never done any of it, I’ve never been that guy.’

“ ‘Well, you get suppliers…’

“I threw myself at some suppliers. We built a bar programme. We did a lot of cocktails. It was maybe a bit overambitious on the cocktail route. We had people coming in off the hills of Cartmel with muddy shoes and going: ‘Can I get a pint of Old Speckled Hen?’ And a very eager early 20-year-old bar manager was going: ‘Well, you can do, sir, but have you considered a deconstructed basil and almond martini with a raspberry and rosemary foam?’ They looked at me like I was an idiot.”

Despite his ambitious cocktails, Ward impressed Rogan. He ended up moving to London with his girlfriend, who is now his wife, and worked in bars and hotels, including as a sommelier at The Ritz. But he moved back to Cumbria. Rogan swiftly offered Ward another job as the restaurant manager of L’Enclume in 2012, telling him that he wanted to make big changes to the restaurant, including making the service less formal.

“I said: ‘That’s huge, what’s the timeline for these sorts of changes?’” Ward recalls. “And he was like: ‘About half-six.’ That’s Simon. If you can, just do. Get it done, let’s go.”

Today Ward is the managing director of the whole Umbel group, overseeing the restaurants and its 200 members of staff in the UK and abroad. He owns shares in the business alongside Rogan and his wife Penny, who still own the majority. They are the only three shareholders. 

“It is quite hard to describe how special L’Enclume is as an entity,” Ward says. “I was on the floor there for about four years with the team and that’s what drove everything for me. It was just run from the heart the whole time, the passion for guests and people.

“There is a culture that runs through certain teams that when you step into that world it affects you in a deep and longstanding way. When you work for and around great people, everybody benefits, right? Whenever anybody joined it was impossible not to see them grow at a rapid level.”

Rogan has been able to take the success of L’Enclume to other restaurants, but the business is careful with how it grows – it looks for opportunities through the talent within the business, rather than being driven by a desire to expand.

“It’s the difference between growth and expansion. We’re not an expanding business. We grow as and when the opportunities feel right and as and when our team is capable,” Ward says.

“Often we will have people growing through the ranks. Maybe there is a great sous-chef but we haven’t got a head chef position for them. Then an opportunity comes up that feels right and you go: ‘OK, I’ve got the head chef, I’ve got the opportunity, I’ve got a good restaurant manager in place – let’s go.’ 

“We’ve had a few opportunities where they may have been the right opportunity, but we look through our arsenal of resources in the team and go: ‘If we take someone out of there, that’s going to weaken that.’ We don’t love bringing people in from the outside, as a general rule, in those leadership positions. It has worked from time to time. But as a general rule, there is a risk.”

This clear thinking is also present in the kitchens. Those who have watched the television drama The Bear may have an image in their head of the kitchens being volatile and intense, with the chefs and waiters shouting at each other.

“No, no, no, Simon’s insanely level-headed. There’s none of that,” Ward says. “Whenever there’s been any sign of that angry style of chef we have a very, very simple way of dealing with it. You’re not going to get anywhere by losing your rag.”

Despite the challenging economic environment, Umbel is thriving. Ward has formed a formidable partnership with Rogan at the top of the business. “I always knew I wanted to go into running or leading a business in some way,” he says.

“I wouldn’t have chosen a business partner like Simon, because I think I would have looked for somebody similar to myself, who brings the same things to the table,” Ward explains. “If you speak to anyone who’s in business, that’s the last thing you really probably want to be doing, because that’s what you bring to the table and someone else brings something else.

“What Simon is very good at is: ‘What we’re doing here and now, how can we be brilliant at it?’ He also does that with a sort of instant speed. It’s not: ‘Let’s have a meeting about it on Thursday.’ It is here and now, let’s go. And he removes the bullshit from it.”

Rogan says similar of Ward: “He is so energetic – always ready with a solution or new idea.  A lot of it comes down to trust. We’ve worked together for a long time, so whilst all the major decisions still require input from both of us – and other members of the senior team – there are a lot of everyday things that can be handled at pace. We can often be in different places, in different time zones, so it’s important to be able to make those calls knowing you’ve got the backing of one another. 

“I’m incredibly lucky to not only have Sam, but also a team of brilliant chefs around me – including Oli Marlow and Paul Burgalières, and a number of other very talented individuals. With Sam as managing director, it’s allowed me more time to spend with these people – focusing on the food, yes, but also on their development, on the team’s development. And also on things that really matter to me, and to our industry – like proper British farming practices.”