Mark LaBrooy is a Chef and Co-Owner of popular restaurant group, Three Blue Ducks. As one of three original founding members, Mark began Three Blue Ducks in 2010 following a career that landed him in positions across lauded Sydney restaurants including Sydney Opera House, Tetsuyas and international venues such as the progressive Zurich-based restaurant, Josef.
Finding instant success with the launch of the Ducks’ first Bronte cafe in 2010, Mark realised the premise of the venue had long-term appeal when it became the first cafe to ever be invited to the Good Food Guide restaurant awards under a new category for ‘best breakfast’. Three Blue Ducks venues have gone on to win awards within Gourmet Traveller’s Best Regional Restaurant category and were awarded a hat in the 2018 Good Food Guide.
Born from the desire to offer a more sustainable and ethical approach to Australian dining, Three Blue Ducks has created a legacy that encourages its community to “grow what you can, buy food mindfully, buy it locally, cook it thoughtfully and waste nothing where you can”, an ethos which now underpins all seven of the group’s venues across NSW, VIC and QLD.
Mark has co-written three books with co partner, Darren Robertson - The Blue Ducks (2012), Real Food (2014) and Blue Ducks in the Country (2017) - and is an OzHarvest ambassador. He is passionate about subsistence hunting, advocating to eat everything you catch and honour the animal by using all parts of it in cooking, wasting as little as possible. For Mark, hunting is an important way of engaging with the environment, and becoming an advocate to protect it.
Mark is an avid motorcycle racer, cyclist, forager and surfer, but his proudest achievement to date is as a loving husband to wife, Hannah and daughter, Ava.
