After four decades leading the M Restaurant Group in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, Michelle Garnaut AO left the restaurant industry in 2022. She is now focused on social impact, supporting founders and new ventures, and mentoring women through Mentor Walks and the FT Women in Business Asia Forum. She remains active in discussions on feminist issues and geopolitical questions as they relate to China and broader Asia.

The M Restaurant Group ran for 35 years. M at the Fringe opened in Hong Kong in 1989, quickly followed by M on the Bund in 1999, The Glamour Bar in 2006 and, later, Capital M in Beijing in 2009. Ms Garnaut’s restaurants earned her praise from Time magazine as ‘the pioneer of China’s fashionable dining scene’, and her contributions to cultural life in China are equally celebrated. She conceived the Shanghai and Capital Literary Festivals, the Shanghai Chamber Music Festival and Competition, and the M Literary Residency, as
well as founding the Village People Project and championing Mentor Walks in Beijing and Shanghai.

In 2018, Ms Garnaut was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to Australia-China relations as a restaurateur and entrepreneur, to the promotion of Australian food, film and design, as a supporter of literary and cultural programs, and as a role model.’ She is the recipient of many further international honours from the Advance Global Australian Awards, the Women of Influence Awards, and the ANZ Australian Business Awards, and the Australian state of Victoria.