Björn Frantzén (born 26 January 1977) is a chef and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Frantzén runs Frantzén (Stockholm) and Zén (Singapore), restaurants that holds three stars in the

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

each, and owns several other restaurants in Stockholm and Asia.

Career

Frantzén was born in Solna,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. He played football for

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

between 1992 and 1996 before starting his career as a chef. At first, Frantzén worked as a chef at

Edsbacka krog Edsbacka krog ("Edsbacka inn") is a restaurant on the banks of the Edsviken in Sollentuna, Sweden, just north of Stockholm. It closed in February 2010, and was then one of two Swedish restaurants with two stars in the Michelin Guide.Skjervold, T ...

before going on to work at other restaurants, such as Chez Nico's, Dining Lettonie, Pied a Terre, and L'Arpege. Frantzén opened Frantzén/Lindeberg in 2008. The restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star in 2009, and its second in 2010. Frantzén/Lindeberg continued to be rated two stars through 2016. Frantzén/Lindeberg was named number 12 of the 50 Best Restaurants Of The Year in ''The White Guide''. In addition, Frantzén started Catering Frantzén and Gaston. Gaston was one of a few wine bars in Stockholm. Frantzén was also the creator of the project "Exceptional Swedish Quality Food" that strives to lift Swedish raw products to a world-class standard. The project was done in partnership with Visit Sweden, LRF (Lantbrukarnas Riksförbund), Martin and Servera, Swedish Meat, and the Swedish Board of Agriculture. In 2016 his first international restaurant was opened — Frantzén’s Kitchen in Hong Kong. Summer 2018 he opened the Flying Elk in Hong Kong that was closed by the end of 2019 due to the economic recession. Late 2018, he opened Zén in Singapore which follows his novel "3-floors of eating experience" to be had at Frantzén. In 2021 Zén received its third Michelin star. Stockholm's The Flying Elk, Corner Club and Gaston were sold in summer 2019. Brasserie Astoria was opened in spring 2021.

Personal life

Frantzén was married to his long time partner Sara Sandberg in July 2016. Together they have two daughters, Leiah and Stella, who live with them in Stockholm.

Media

In August 2012, Frantzén ran Sweden's Twitter account for a week. During his run he gave out cooking advice and deflected jokes comparing him to the

Swedish Chef The Swedish Chef is a Muppet character that appeared on ''The Muppet Show''. He was originally performed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz simultaneously, with Henson performing the head and voice and Oz performing the character with real hands. The S ...

. In 2014 Frantzén starred in cooking reality-show "Frantzén styr upp" produced by

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

. In the summer of 2014 he did a series of commercials for Mariestads, the export beer from Spendrups brewery. In 2015

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

released documentary ''Hunger'' on Björn Frantzén and Daniel Lindeberg that was shot in 2012.

Bibliography

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Awards

Frantzén's restaurants have been given the following awards: * OAD: #1 Restaurant in Europe * 3 Michelin stars: 2018 * 2 Michelin stars: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 * 12th best restaurant in 2013: ''

Restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

'' magazine * Sweden's best restaurant: 2011, 2012, ''The White Guide'' * Sweden's best food in 2010, the White Guide * Chefs Pub 2013: ''Restaurant World'' * Chef of Chefs 2013: ''Restaurant World'' * Gulddraken Luxury 2013: DN * AA Gill's Guest Drake in 2013: DN Restaurants in Stockholm, Gulddraken , Stockholm Our WayStockholm Our Way

References

External links

Frantzén Official Page

Exceptional Swedish Quality Food official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frantzen, Bjorn 1977 births Footballers from Stockholm Swedish chefs Swedish men's footballers Living people Men's association football players not categorized by position