How Top Chefs Are Reinventing Fine Food with Signature Shops

A grocery corner, or even an independent grocery store. Both bear the name of a top chef. This is a trend that has been growing in the fine food sector for several years. It is also one of the most effective ways of combining authenticity and exceptional flavours with a well-known and recognised name...

Chef's shops are also democratising the offering. While food lovers may be reluctant to spend several hundred pounds on dinner at a celebrity chef's restaurant, they may be more attracted by the dishes and specialities on offer in a chef's grocery store. A grocery corner or store also helps to increase the visibility of the restaurant.

Other advantages of these grocery stores include building customer loyalty to the restaurant by selling signature dishes, or vice versa, with a visit to the delicatessen encouraging customers to dine in. The delicatessen business is also a good source of additional income for restaurants, especially at a time when operating costs are rising. Finally, selling homemade products allows chefs to tell a story about the gourmet products they use.

This is an opportunity to be seized to become part of the great adventure that Gourmet Selection represents for fine food shops selling quality products.

Chef-owned food shops throughout France

Going beyond simple delicatessen corners, several chefs have launched their own shops with street frontage. And not just in Paris! In Alsace, chef Marc Haeberlin has opened a fine food shop next to his Michelin-starred restaurant, L'Auberge de l'Ill, in Illhaeusern (Haut-Rhin).

L'Atelier Haeberlin celebrates the flavours of Alsatian cuisine, offering a gourmet world where taste and expertise come together to delight the taste buds. In Béthune, Christophe Dufossé, two-star chef at the Château de Beaulieu, has opened his own fine food shop. Called ‘La Boutique’, it offers all the products used in the chef's kitchen and pastry shop, from homemade jams to fruit jellies and lollipops, as well as condiments, caviar and ice cream.

The famous Michelin-starred chef Christophe Hay has opened ‘Le Kiosque’ as part of his restaurant in Blois. The chef's fine food products range from sweet to savoury. In Vernon, Normandy, chef David Gallienne has created a gourmet store with the ambition of ‘making excellence accessible to all’. ‘Ô Plum'Store’ allows customers to extend the experience offered by this young chef and discover his various offerings.

Merging restaurants, fine food shops, patisseries and home cooking

In Paris, several fine food shops also showcase the talents of a chef. For several years now, the famous La Tour d'Argent restaurant has had its own fine food shop, where chef Yannick Franques' expertise and passion for the restaurant's gourmet products are displayed.

Mathieu Pacaud, the Michelin-starred chef who gives his name to his grocery store in the 8th arrondissement, brings together a bakery, pastry shop, caterer and fine food shop in an exceptional space. Gourmets will also find a snack area and a selection of desserts inspired by the chef's recipes.

As for two-star chef Stéphanie Le Quellec, MAM is more than just a grocery store. She describes it as a ‘kitchen house’ that is at once a fine food shop, patisserie, caterer and wine cellar. MAM draws on the tradition of independent local food shops, presented in a bright atmosphere with vibrant colours.

Finally, chef Mauro Colagreco has developed a new eco-friendly fine food shop brand called Noyau. It has its roots in the permaculture gardens of his restaurant Mirazur in Menton, with the idea of transforming the earth's surplus into exceptional products, in line with the principles of circular gastronomy. The Noyau range is available in four product families, all made without additives or preservatives, and in limited quantities.