The Financial Times says Rayner is a journalist, broadcaster and author whose work is well known in British and international media. His broadcast career highlights include appearing as a judge on television series MasterChef, hosting BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, and creating the hit podcast Out To Lunch. In 2023 he was named Critic of the Year at the UK Press Awards. Rayner joins the FT from The Observer, where he has spent 25 years as restaurant critic.
Jay Rayner said: “I am thrilled and delighted to be joining the Financial Times as its new restaurant critic. I have been both an avid fan and devoted reader of the paper for many years and it’s an honour to become part of a team I have admired from afar for so long. I can’t wait to play my part alongside the huge talents that are Jancis Robinson, Tim Hayward and Marina O’Loughlin, in providing the most entertaining and authoritative food and drink coverage in the business.”
The FT has also announced that former Sunday Times restaurant critic and Noble Rot contributing editor, Marina O’Loughlin, will be writing a monthly column for the magazine about the global restaurant scene and food culture following her FT summer series ‘Critic Unchained’.
Marina O’Loughlin said: "After leaving the Sunday Times, I've made a hobby of saying ‘no’ to offers. So it's with enormous pleasure that I'm now saying ‘yes’ to my favourite of all the major newspapers, with the best food and drink section in the business."
As part of the expansion of its food and drink offering, the FT says its restaurant critic Tim Hayward, who has been writing for the FT since 2010, will become the FT’s food writer, contributing deep-dives on home cooking projects and other culinary fixations.
Tim Hayward said: "Twelve years is a long time to be critical about restaurants. I’m looking forward to being able to write fully about the thing I love, enthusing about food, in breadth and depth."
Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine and the world's leading wine writer, will continue to anchor the magazine's unmatched and in-depth wine coverage.
FT Weekend Editor Janine Gibson said: “The FT Magazine’s food and drink coverage under its brilliant editor Harriet Fitch Little has gone from strength to strength. We have ambitious and exciting plans for the next year and assembling this stellar lineup of the greatest authorities in their field is the first step. FT Weekend readers look to us for expertise and exceptional writing on every aspect of culture, and this food and drink team will be unparalleled in their ability to deliver on every front.”
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