Juan Manuel Barrientos Valencia

The Path

Training at Colegiatura Colombiana and Mariano Moreno gave Juan Manuel Barrientos Valencia a formal base in the kind of discipline that supports large hospitality projects. Those studies in Medellín and Buenos Aires shaped a career that would move between culinary work and business building. In 2006, he became founder and creator of El Cielo restaurant chain, establishing the thread that would carry his name across later openings. From 2015, Juan went on to work as opened original Elcielo Miami at Elcielo Miami, Florida, extending that established framework into a new city. The significance is in the move itself: Elcielo was no longer limited to its point of origin, but translated into another market while remaining tied to the founder who created it. Today, he remains the force behind El Cielo restaurant chain, and that continuity is central to how his career reads.

The Work Today

The current work is best understood as the creation and ownership of an expanding hospitality structure rather than a single station or one address. Elcielo is the craft note here: restaurants, bars, and a hotel connected to the founder who created the chain. That breadth defines the shape of the work. Instead of one room or one menu, there is a set of spaces unified by a single name and the organizing idea behind it. In that sense, Juan Manuel Barrientos Valencia occupies a role that is both culinary and architectural. He is working inside hospitality, but also shaping its frame, extending the Elcielo identity through multiple formats while keeping the founding concept intact.

In Their Words “I studied at Colegiatura Colombiana in Medellín, and at Mariano Moreno in Buenos Aires.”

Acclaim

Juan's honors include Michelin Star (2021), Part of The World's Best Chef list (2016), Youngest chef in Latin America's 50 Best for three consecutive times, and Revelation Chef Award.