Meet Björn Frantzén, the Chef With 3 Michelin 3-Star Restaurants

A professional kitchen, regardless of the prices on the menu, is almost certainly a stressful environment. (Have you seen The bear?) Add in the pressure of having one Michelin star, two, three—the weight can seem unimaginable. Now multiply that by three again, and you begin to imagine what life is like for Björn Frantzén.

The 49-year-old Swede is the only chef to have managed a trio of the world’s 157 Michelin three-star restaurants: Frantzen in Stockholm received three stars in 2018; Zén, in Singapore, followed in 2021; And Dubai’s FZN was awarded the guide’s top honor last year, just months after opening. While Frantzén admits he feels pressure to stay on top, he explains. Rob Report That he doesn’t lose sleep over the thought of pleasing the Michelin inspectors year after year.

“It’s a relief when you keep (the rating), but I hope that me, my team, and all of our regular guests will react much faster than once a year if we’re on the wrong track,” he says by phone from London, where he’s visiting the site for potential projects. “We need to be our best. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Michelin guide or a grandmother from the northern parts of Sweden. It’s the same.”

This mindset is probably why Frantzén has become one of the most successful chefs on the planet—he’s as focused, if not more, on his routine and the diners who flock to his Nordic-inspired fare (think pickles, boils, etc.) as he is on the critics and talking heads who can make or break a restaurant. And he’s often more concerned with everyday problems—like a storm in Norway blocking an influx of king crabs—than the highs that come from winning or losing accolades.

The demanding world of fine dining is not where Frantzen imagined himself as a child. His early life revolved around football. He even played professionally for five years. A congenital heart condition ended his athlete dreams, but cooking had long been on the backburner. Frantzén still fondly recalls a dish of steak frites at age 12 or 13 — “It was a hallelujah moment for me,” he says of the meal — and so, when life on the pitch became impossible, he turned to the kitchen.

After attending a culinary school in Stockholm where he trained in the classical French tradition, he worked at a handful of Michelin-starred venues, including Pad à Terre in London and L’Arpage in Paris. In 2008, he opened Frantzén/Lindeberg together with chef Daniel Lindeberg, which became one of the few restaurants in the Nordic region to hold two Michelin stars at the time.

Although Lindbergh left in 2013, the restaurant didn’t shed its name until it moved locations in 2017 and, simply, became Frantzén, marking its owner’s first time as a solo restaurateur. Nearly two decades later, the Frantzén Group operates nine establishments from Bangkok to Marbella, all of which unite Swedish heritage with French techniques and Asian influences, particularly Japanese cuisine. “Each restaurant is a project and its own little city,” says the chef. “We don’t say too many offerings. We’re building the company slowly and steadily.” This year isn’t so quiet, though: The group is set to open six to eight restaurants in 2026, including a Brasserie Astoria outpost in London and a brand new concept in Stockholm. Called Emberlin, it will be Franzen’s take on the classic steakhouse. It’s due to open in late summer, and it already has ambitions to expand worldwide.

Outside of the kitchen, Frantzen stays busy caring for her two teenage daughters and their golden retriever, Easton. At home, he cooks mostly simple, quick meals, relying on local classics like Swedish meatballs. He loves music and listens to everything from hip-hop to rock to opera to Swedish pop. “My Spotify is crazy,” he says. He had recently been to a Metallica concert in Abu Dhabi when we spoke. And though he no longer plays football, Frantzen still runs and plays golf, a sport he admits “fits my age.”

As a kid on the pitch, Frantzén never imagined he would be one of the most honored chefs of his generation. And even when he first entered the culinary world, he felt more or less the same way. “When I started my first restaurant, my main goal was to try to get two Michelin stars,” he explains. “I never thought I’d have three restaurants with three Michelin stars. So, I’d say that’s pretty well played from a guy from the suburbs without rich parents.”