All Change: Yannick Alléno Won't Reopen for Business as Usual

Service, parity in the kitchen, tailor-made menus and a personalised 'trip'. The Covid-19 crisis has made multi-Michelin-starred French chef Yannick Alléno think about "changing everything" in his approach to the reopening of his restaurants. "It is important for me not to reopen my restaurants as before. Today I want to change my restaurant and make it a most absolute social example," the chef told AFP.

The 52-year-old chef of Pavillion Ledoyen in Paris and Cheval Blanc in Courchevel among other establishments, had a real awakening during the forced break. Having started cooking at 15 years old, he had always thought that working in gastronomy meant arriving at 8 am and leaving at 1 am. But all this is about to change when he introduces "participatory planning" at Pavillon Ledoyen, which will allow the 150 staff to choose their schedule.

More Parity in the Kitchen

Alléno also intends to work on parity in the kitchen. The chef was strongly criticised in 2019, following a debate organised by the 50 Best organisation, after having mentioned the "structural breaks", which prevented women from reaching the rank of chef because they wanted to take care of their children in the evening. “The DNA of women is to give birth,” he said.

Today, Alléno admits to his mistake: "I did something stupid, it was really awkward, inappropriate and unacceptable. I apologised as much as I could and I decided to move on." The chef's objective is to have six women in his team of twelve sommeliers, "as soon as possible", in order to bring more parity to his establishment. "I'm tired of hearing that catering is a difficult and exclusive profession." The chef also hired three people with disabilities during the brief reopening of his restaurant last fall.