A Swiss chef and keeper of the legendary cuisine of Crissier's Hôtel de Ville, Franck Giovannini has maintained his three Michelin stars since 2016, won the 2007 Bronze Bocuse d'Or and was named Cuisinier de l'année 2018 by Gault & Millau, with seasonal cuisine worked in five “micro-seasons.”
Born in Tramelan in 1974, he grew up in the mountains and sports before choosing the stove: an apprenticeship at the Auberge de la Couronne with Claude Joseph taught him technical rigor, then he honed his vision in Gray Kunz's New York workshop. A bronze medal at the 2007 Bocuse d'Or - with the “Compression de volaille de Bresse aux truffes noires” - established him as the first Swiss on the competition podium.
Returning to Switzerland, he joined the Crissier temple - Hôtel de Ville - directed at the time by Frédy Girardet in 1995, continued under Philippe Rochat and became Benoît Violier's right-hand man; twenty-two years of collaboration would forge a brigade united like a family. When Violier passed away on Feb. 1, 2016, Giovannini took over the helm of the kitchens, confirming three stars and 19/20 Gault & Millau ratings in just a few months.
His style avoids overlapping flavors: “we never mix too many flavors on the plate; the purity of the ingredient must emerge,” he explains, citing Rochat's lesson. Loyalty to suppliers, menus that change five times a year to include an “extra-season” between spring and summer, and an in-house academy open to guests testify to a philosophy of participatory hospitality. “People come for the food, but they stay for the family atmosphere,” he says, emphasizing the importance of seeing smiling faces in the kitchen.
In 2019, Hôtel de Ville leaps to No. 1 on Elite Traveler's Top 100 Restaurants, confirming the restaurant's international echo. The same year he receives the 2019 Eckart for gastronomic culture. Today he directs sixty staff, chairs the Swiss Bocuse d'Or Academy, and has launched a cuvée “Sélection Giovannini” with Domaine La Colombe to link vineyard and table. In his little spare time, he loves to devote himself to his wife Stéphanie and two children, the “first brigade” to whom he passes on a sense of loyalty and teamwork.
