Shaun Rankin was born in 1972, in [Ferryhill] County Durham, North East England. Rankin grew up in North Yorkshire, leaving secondary school at 16 to begin a three-year apprenticeship at the Mayfair Hotel in London. He then attended a cooking course at the Thames Valley University, Slough. He returned to Yorkshire in 1992 to take on position as chef de partie at the Black Bull Inn in Moulton, soon beginning to gain experience all over the world including Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and Fraser's in Western Australia.
