In the world of fine dining, where creativity and commerce intermingle heavily, power is fluid. The ability to influence others may come from economic might, but for many, vision and innovation are what imbue people with power. While there are numerous lists trying to pinpoint who in the industry holds sway over others, we felt the best way to truly understand influence in American fine dining was to go directly to professionals throughout the industry and ask them what they thought.
So we called on more than 100 people from across the restaurant world—from Michelin-starred chefs to James Beard Award-winning restaurateurs to prominent investors to media members to CEOs of restaurant tech platforms—to tell us who they believed were the most powerful among their peers. We asked voters to not define fine dining too narrowly—as just tasting menus and overly formal service—because for us fine dining is about ambition in the kitchen paired with attentive hospitality in the dining roo