French entrepreneur Edouard Legoff founded Le Chef and the French Festival with the desire to bring to New Zealand all the warmth, generosity and friendliness of traditional small bistros, cafés and restaurants of France.
Edouard and his wife Clara opened their first restaurant, Le Chef, in Auckland back in 2015. The business has since been able to create and run three editions of the French Festival (2017-2019) that attracted 30,000 visitors each year and hosted 800 pax long tables! While international travelling is off the cards, Le Chef offers an authentic French café/bistro/bar located in the heart of Auckland CBD, in the famous little pedestrian street Vulcan Lane.
09 373 4723 | info@le-chef.co.nz | le-chef.co.nz
Tell us about your story in New Zealand?
Clara and I arrived in Auckland in 2013, looking for a new challenge and a new journey. With only $500 in the pocket, travelling the country was not an option. We found our first job in two days and eight years later, we’re still here with two little Kiwi-French boys.
How would you describe 2020 and what’s your hope for 2021?
2020 has been a real challenge for the hospitality and tourism industry. Having our business located right in Auckland CBD, without tourism or a full office work activity in town, made the whole situation stressful. But I always like to focus on the positive things, and having quality time at home with my boys was unexpectedly refreshing!
Although we’re super excited about what 2021 will bring, we have to tread very carefully. By opening our doors, our mission is to make our customers travel to France and we’ll do our best to achieve that!
We will keep doing our street parties in Vulcan lane like La longue table du Chef (10-14 March 2021) or Bastille day in July. Le French festival (cancelled in 2020) will now happened in June/July 2022 – stay tuned!
What atmosphere were you looking to achieve?
We took over the place with only a little budget on hand, so it took us a few years to get where we are today. There is still so much to do, the journey is beautiful and the sky is the limit. We want you to walk in and feel completely transported, as if you were in France!
