Jock Zonfrillo

Barry "Jock" Zonfrillo (4 August 1976 – 30 April 2023) was a Scottish chef, television presenter and restaurateur.

He was the founder of the Orana Foundation and a judge on MasterChef Australia.

Zonfrillo was born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Ayr.

His father, Ivan, was a barber and his mother, Sarah, was a hairdresser.

His mother's family is Scottish from Dalmellington, Ayrshire, while his father is from Scauri, Italy.

He had an older sister, Carla.

Zonfrillo attended Belmont Academy in Ayr.

Zonfrillo started working in kitchens at the age of 12 as a part-time dishwasher at the restaurant in which his older sister was waitressing.

He started learning to cook at the restaurant three weeks later when one of the chefs had a motorbike accident.

Zonfrillo left school at age 15 and started an apprenticeship in the kitchens of The Turnberry Hotel.

He stated that he started taking drugs, including heroin at this time.

In 1993, at the age of 16, Zonfrillo was named Young Scottish Chef of the Year.

After completing his apprenticeship, Zonfrillo got a job at the one-Michelin-starred Arkle Restaurant in Chester.

While working at Arkle, he claimed that he started selling drugs to fund his heroin addiction.

Zonfrillo was fired from the restaurant after a foul-mouthed outburst that was overheard in the dining room.

Zonfrillo next travelled to London where he worked for Marco Pierre White at The Restaurant Marco Pierre White.

He also worked at Quaglino's and at Chapter One with David Cavalier before heading to Australia in 1994 for 12 months.

As a traveller, he was rejected by many of the restaurants he wanted to work at until he was hired by Dietmar Sawyere at Restaurant 41 in Sydney.

Starting out as a line cook, Zonfrillo rose to become sous-chef after two months.

When his visa expired, Zonfrillo returned to London and worked for three months at Gordon Ramsay's Aubergine.

He subsequently resumed working for White at the Oak Room and Les Saveurs, before joining Pharmacy.

Zonfrillo was appointed to his first head chef position, at age 22, at The Tresanton Hotel in Cornwall.

Zonfrillo immigrated to Australia in 2000.

He stated that he quit heroin cold turkey upon arrival in Sydney, and remained clean since then.

He became head chef of Restaurant 41 where he began using Australian native ingredients in his cooking.

In 2002, Zonfrillo set fire to the pants of an apprentice chef for working too slowly.

The chef, Martin Krammer, sued Zonfrillo after suffering burns to his hand and was awarded damages in excess of $75,000 in 2007.

In May 2007, Zonfrillo was declared bankrupt after a creditor's petition from Krammer was successful in the Federal Magistrates Court.

According to Krammer, "He [Zonfrillo] never paid me a cent."

Zonfrillo was fired from Restaurant 41 after the incident.

He started importing and selling kitchen equipment and doing some consultancy, then briefly worked at the Austral after moving to Adelaide.

In 2011, Zonfrillo was named head chef at Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant in South Australia but left after 18 months.

In November 2013, he opened Orana and Street ADL in Adelaide replacing Street ADL with Bistro Blackwood in September 2017.

In 2016 and 2017, Zonfrillo ran a fixed food truck called Nonna Mallozzi, serving Italian food.

In August 2017, Orana was named Australia's 2018 Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller magazine; the same year Zonfrillo was named Australia's 2018 Hottest Chef in The Australian.

In October 2018, Orana was named Australia's 2019 Restaurant of the Year by The Good Food Guide, as well as being a three hatted restaurant in the 2019 and 2020 Chef Hat Awards.

Zonfrillo opened a bar called Mallozzi in December 2018.

He closed it in July 2019 after posting losses exceeding $140,000 in the time it was open.

In late 2019, Bistro Blackwood closed, followed by Orana in March 2020.

On 5 October 2020, the companies which operated the restaurants entered into voluntary administration, with substantial unpaid debts, amounting to approximately $3.2 million.