Michael Smith joins Perle Hotels following Loch Bay closure
The Michelin-starred chef will oversee food and drink across the Scottish hotel group, with a focus on local produce and restaurants that reflect their surroundings.
Michelin-starred chef Michael Smith is joining Perle Hotels as Culinary Director and Brand Ambassador, beginning a new chapter after ten years at Loch Bay on the Isle of Skye.
Smith will take up the newly created role on 10 November, following Loch Bay’s final service on 31 October. He will work with teams across the independent Scottish hotel group’s properties in Skye, Oban and Glencoe, alongside its new Edinburgh hotel, which is due to open in 2027.
The appointment will see Smith help each restaurant develop its own identity, with menus and experiences shaped by local sourcing, provenance and a sense of place.
A new chapter after Loch Bay
Michael and his wife Laurence opened Loch Bay in Stein, on Skye’s Waternish peninsula, in 2016. The restaurant earned a Michelin star and an international reputation for its seafood-led cooking, drawing on produce from Skye and the surrounding area.
The couple announced in August that they would bring the restaurant’s ten-year run to a close.
“Loch Bay has been the realisation of a lifelong dream,” said Michael. “It was a huge personal challenge for my family and me, and I’ve learned so much.”
Having achieved what he hoped to at the restaurant, he now feels ready for a different challenge. His position at Perle will draw on almost 40 years of experience, while providing an opportunity to support the next generation working in Scottish hospitality.
A familiar connection with Perle Hotels
Smith already has a long-standing relationship with the group. More than a decade ago, he helped develop Dulse & Brose at The Bosville in Portree, with its emphasis on seasonal ingredients from Skye, the Highlands and Scotland’s west coast.
His first priority will be to spend time at each hotel, getting to know the restaurants and their teams before exploring how they can develop. That will include reviewing menus and sourcing, alongside opportunities to create new dining and visitor experiences.
“Hotels and restaurants are living entities – they have their own energy,” he said. “There will be existing narratives in each location, and it takes time to uncover all these things.”
Scottish ingredients will remain central to his approach.
“We have such a rich natural larder, and it should be celebrated, supported and enhanced,” Michael added. “Perle Hotels has been doing that quietly and admirably for the last 10 years, and that’s something that I’m very happy to be a part of and continue to support.”
Individual restaurants with a local identity
Perle Hotels owner Beth Rehman described the appointment as an investment in both the group’s restaurants and its people.
Rather than introducing a single dining concept across the hotels, the aim is to strengthen each restaurant’s individual character and encourage more local diners and visitors through the doors.
“Our hotels are all very different and we want their restaurants to be different too,” said Beth. “We don’t want to impose one concept across Perle. We want to give each restaurant a much clearer identity and make them places that local people and visitors want to come to whether they’re staying with us or not.”
She added that Smith brings both extensive experience and enthusiasm for working with the existing teams.
Michael Smith begins his role as Perle Hotels’ Culinary Director and Brand Ambassador on 10 November.
