"My essence? Freedom." Alain Ducasse, the record-breaking star chef, talks about the meaning of his work beyond business. "The thing I like most is to discover talent and help them grow so that they can find their own culinary identity."
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He is the second most-starred chef in culinary history, behind Joël Robuchon. The only chef who has ever boasted three different three Michelin-starred restaurants at the same time, in Paris, Monaco and London. But Alain Ducasse (whose family wanted him to be a farmer) is also a keen observer of the present, which is why each of his interviews is an event. The one granted to Lela London of Forbes is no exception, where at sixty-six, he dwells on his many activities, those more and less visible.
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Today his brand includes thirty-four businesses, all of which were personally launched and then entrusted to talented disciples. "But mine is not an empire, and I don't consider it a business. Rather a series of small ateliers. Of craftsmanship. Each restaurant or workshop tells its own story. My current focus is the transmission of knowledge to chefs in their 30s. I pay a lot of attention to their evolution, to training them and highlighting them." For example, there is Clare Smyth, the first woman to achieve three stars in Britain. "Clare was very eager to learn. She had a strong personality, already in 2005, and it showed in her cooking. That's what I like. Identifying talent and giving them all the opportunities and knowledge to grow and find their own culinary identity.”
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"Theirs are all restaurants with a signature story," Ducasse proudly claims. His lowest common denominator, then? "Freedom. I have never precluded myself from trying. I allowed myself to try new things at the cost of failure. Now we have fine dining, bistros, brasseries, cooking schools, a publishing house, a vegan restaurant... It has always been difficult to find funding, and still is. It is one battle after another. A battle a day. Nothing is given to you, and the market today is more competitive than when I started." 
But this is not a story in the past tense: in addition to expanding his chocolate boutiques – the model of each store being unique but selling the same product is inspired by the skincare brand Aesop – Ducasse is working under the radar on a think tank aimed at developing techniques and uses of preserved fish and sea vegetables. "Every day, we try to be better than we were yesterday. That is the spirit in each one of our ateliers and the spirit in me. A life, and legacy, of taste and pleasure."
Source: Forbes
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Cover photo: @Xiaomei Chen
