A Michelin-starred chef has detailed how she went from suffering a career-shattering injury at 21 to building a million dollar business in a rental home where she lived with five roommates. Jordan Hartley started working in the kitchen at just 15 after leaving school — before securing a job at world-renowned chef Brett Graham’s three Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury in London. The apprentice was working 65 to 80 hours a week trying to carve out a culinary career.
“We were able to have one really amazing year before COVID hit and we essentially lost all our business overnight,” she says. “Two years ago, I made the decision to invest my own money into the business to save it and we rebranded to Hartley Health, starting from scratch.” Jordan went from working out of a shared home with five roommates to renting out her own apartment — equipped with a larger kitchen and two fridges in the garage to keep up with the demand.