Sitting in his award-winning restaurant in Longridge, Heathcote looks every inch the self-made man. Casually dressed in jeans and an open-necked shirt, he is relaxed as he thanks his last lunchtime guest.

As the man comes over to shake his hand, Heathcote quietly winces as the guest innocently asks when he will be back in the kitchen. “I am asked that question all the time,” he said. “People don’t realise that I have new challenges now.”

He does, indeed, have a lot on his plate.

His 15 restaurants employ a total of 450 people in an industry notorious for staff moving on. On a busy day his outside catering operation Heathcote Outside will employ up to 2,000 people. Then there are the TV commitments and the occasional public appearances.

So how has the boy from the back streets of Bolton reached the top of the culinary tree?

Heathcote is remarkably self-effacing as he traces his steps from cooking for the family as a teenager to working in some of Britain’s finest kitchens.

His first efforts came at the age of 13, covering for his mother while she worked two nights a week at the family’s health and fitness club. “My father couldn’t cook – and still can’t – and my sister was even worse,” he said. “I started reheating food and then found I really enjoyed cooking. I literally used to run home from school to get into the kitchen.”

By the age of 16 he knew he wanted to cook but was initially rejected by the catering college in Bolton because he only had two O-levels, in art and history. He was finally offered a place to make up the numbers and spent three years learning his trade.

After a couple of years working in “bog standard” restaurants his big breakthrough came when he found a job with Francis Coulson and Brian Sack at the Sharrow Bay Hotel in Ullswater where he discovered the new world of fine dining. Michel Bourdin at London’s Connaught Hotel and Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux’Quat Saisons in Oxfordshire continued his education.

“I was older than the other young chefs and realised I needed to catch up,” he recalled. “I was obsessed with cooking but by the time I left Oxford, I knew I could compete with anyone.”

At the age of 26, he returned to Lancashire to take the job of head chef at the Broughton Park Hotel in Preston. “I knew I still had a lot to learn, particularly about managing people and all that boring stuff like health and safety and first aid. Crucially, I had to learn about making a profit, something too many chefs ignore.”

Three years later, in 1990, he decided to go it alone. With £30,000 from the sale of his house in Preston and a £20,000 loan guaranteed by his parents, he opened his first eponymous restaurant in Longridge.

At a time when interest rates were at an all-time high of 18 per cent, the early days were tough. But by 1992, the restaurant was recognised by Egon Ronay, awarded its first Michelin star and shortlisted for the Cateys – the Oscars of the culinary world.

“I was on the same table as Gary Rhodes, Anton Mosiman and Brian Turner,” he recalled. “I was terrified, but the moment our name was read out as Newcomer of the Year and 800 people applauded remains my most memorable moment.”

Heathcote won his second Michelin star in 1994 when he also picked up the Egon Ronay Restaurant of the Year award.

In 1995 he took his cuisine to the middle market when he opened the first of what became the Simply Heathcote chain of brasseries in Preston, which also won critical acclaim.

“What people forget is that I had been cooking for 20 years, mostly at a very high level or to Michelin standard,” he explained. “After a while, it becomes boring and you feel you need something else to stoke the fire.”

Graham Stringer, the then leader of Manchester City Council, persuaded him to bring his new approach to Manchester. Restaurants were to follow in Liverpool and Leeds.

The first of a series of Italian-themed restaurants, The Olive Press, opened in the basement of the Preston brasserie and Heathcote now has eight branches, including his home town of Bolton, Clitheroe, Knutsford and Alderley Edge.

Heathcote was one of the first high-profile chefs to recognise the potential of sports catering. Heathcotes Outside, the catering firm he created in partnership with Gary Bates, has picked up contracts with such clients as Chester and Bangor racecourses, Liverpool FC, Preston North End FC, Warrington Wolves RLFC and the new Liverpool Arena.

He sold a majority stake in the business in 2006 to Lindley Catering, a specialist in sports, stadium and events catering, to create a £40million-turnover company with 450 full-time staff and 11,000 part-timers. Heathcotes Outside continues to run under its own name, with Bates overseeing the day to day operation.

December last year saw the launch of Grado, a Spanish-themed restaurant in Manchester, and, apart from an Olive Press in Leeds this month, there will be no additions to the Heathcote stable this year.

Heathcote has few regrets, other than losing his Michelin stars. “It did hurt at the time. I ploughed all my resources into building a bigger business and some cracks started to appear,” he acknowledged. “I made that decision and was realistic enough to realise that you cannot achieve something without being knocked down somewhere else.”

Though he now has more time for his family and holidays, Heathcote has no thoughts of retiring. “I still get a great buzz from creating good food,” he added.