Of Hakka ethnicity, he was born in Sha Tau Kok, Ex-British Colony, Hong Kong and moved to King's Lynn, Norfolk in 1975 with his family.
Alan Yau started his career in 1992 founding Wagamama and was awarded an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honour's List for services to the restaurant industry.
Following that, Alan founded numerous ventures in gastronomy such as Hakkasan (awarded Michelin Star in 2003), Yauatcha (awarded Michelin star in 2005) and Park Chinois.
In 2016 Alan pivoted into the software world and founded Softchow, a taste aggregation platform.In April 2019, The Asian Awards honoured Alan for his culinary work with the "Outstanding Achievement in the Arts" award.