How Christophe Chatron-Michaud Built F&B-Concept-Development After David-Boulet-Jean-Georges

Anthony Codispoti (00:01)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codaspodi and today’s guest is Christophe Châtron-Michaux, founder and president of F &B Concept Development. Christophe is a restaurant and hospitality consultant who brings decades of front of house leadership.

Michelin star apprenticeship and international operator experience to help restaurants and hotels thrive. He began his career sweeping floors and polishing silver in a two Michelin star restaurant. He has worked around the globe from New York to Las Vegas, Kuala Lumpur to Manila and Singapore and has launched successful restaurant concepts, bakeries and wine bars.

He splits his time between hands-on operational leadership and strategic consulting, specializing in guest experience, staffing, financials, and menu strategy. Kristof has led multi-year projects, trained teams, and guided expansions, always leaning on practical metrics and a people-first approach. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Ad Back Benefits Agency.

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Christophe Chatron-michaud (02:16)
Thank you and good morning, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti (02:18)
Good morning. How badly did I butcher your name? Can you give us the correct French pronunciation?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (02:24)
I think you did great. Christophe Chatron-Michaud, with the French accent obviously. But you had it good. You had it very well. Thank you.

Anthony Codispoti (02:30)
Sounds so much better coming from you.

Okay, thank you. I appreciate

that. So can you tell us about your earliest memories of working in restaurants? What drew you there as a youngster?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (02:44)
Well, you know, it started, I was, ⁓ you know, from a pretty young age. ⁓ My father always thought, you know, ⁓ it’s important that you guys get a sense of work, some kind of sense of work as you’re young during the summer vacation. So I started off as a caddy, a golf caddy in Meuget where I was born and I grew up.

They happen to have a golf there, so I started there. And obviously the golf course had a clubhouse, which had a restaurant. And after two years being a caddy, working only for just one person, a Swiss gentleman that liked to tee off at about 8 a.m. in the morning. After two years, I was asked if I would be interested in bussing table at the clubhouse.

all the golfers that would either come and have lunch or afternoon tea or they would have breakfast as well. ⁓ Everybody was a member. ⁓ I thought that it was, though I loved golfing and we used to always golf after, at the end of the day, I thought it was a good thing for me. It was going to be a little bit more money.

So I took on this job and then I really thrive there. was doing good. I was motivated. ⁓ I love talking to people and make sure that they’re well served and all cleared. ⁓ And that’s how I get the bug.

Anthony Codispoti (04:28)
And so you started out as a busboy. Did you move your way up within that organization?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (04:32)
There,

I didn’t. There, didn’t. I didn’t. was just, I moved up maybe. I was running food sometimes, you know, ⁓ but I didn’t go up to, you know, taking orders and so forth. I was not, I guess I was still young, maybe probably 14 at the time, 14, 15 years old. So I, you know, they refrained me from taking guest orders and, you know, lot of guests at the time.

still were drinking wines, know, drinking wine. And, you know, so I guess I was not of age to handle, you know, alcoholic beverages.

Anthony Codispoti (05:12)
Yeah, right.

So ⁓ tell us about this two Michelin star restaurant where you were sweeping floors and polishing silver that we talked about in the intro.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (05:20)
Yeah, so, you know, know, basically, you know, from there, I kind of like dropped a little bit, you know, the restaurant business and focused on studies. then, you know, ⁓ less than a year after my high school graduation, I went to Paris and started medicine school. I was my head was not there.

And I came back to my parents and my dad who was working with this, mean, part of the golf and the clubhouse, it was part of a larger group that had a hotel and he had connections and he said to me, hey, you I mean, you used to like the restaurant business, whether you want to give it a shot, you want to go somewhere. And he happened to know a guy that

I’d worked with him that was working in that two Michelin star restaurant in the south of France. And said, hey, if you want to, I can contact him and see if you want to start a carrier there. And that’s how it started. I came in, very little knowledge. I knew how to carry a tray with glasses on top of it. I knew a little bit, but not much. And getting into the Michelin environment was very different.

But I was focused on wanting to do well, wanting to succeed, not disappoint my father, obviously, and come back home and not knowing what I was going to do with myself. So I hang in there and I started. And obviously, with a little experience, give you the task that nobody wants to do, polishing silverware, vacuuming after the launch service.

mopping in the areas where it’s required, cleaning the bathroom, ⁓ and making sure that you get to stay in the afternoon, you don’t get the break. ⁓ And then you get to go off a little early at night, obviously not as late as closing out the restaurant. But yeah, that was my job as a starter.

Anthony Codispoti (07:39)
So was it initially

intimidating for you to be in a two Michelin star environment?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (07:45)
Very, very, you can’t do that. Don’t approach, ⁓ don’t touch this. Just go to the area where we’re clearing plates and then bring them back up to the kitchen for the dishwasher to clean them and so forth. So it was very regimented in a way where some of the things that I was not supposed to do were clearly outlined to me from the start.

during service.

Anthony Codispoti (08:14)
Now, was there at some point during your time there where you fell in love with the work or was this just kind of filling time, filling a gap because you weren’t sure what was coming next in your future?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (08:28)
You know, it was hard, but I fell in love with, know, again, my motto was to be the best that I could and not come back to my parents and be a burden because, you know, have two other siblings, mean, three other siblings and so forth. So it was my goal to succeed. So.

With that goal, I pursued myself that any task that’s given to me is good. I must love it in order to do a good job and to hopefully get into a better place later and get the praise and ⁓ get the rewards ⁓ and move up. ⁓ And what attracted me the most is the quality of food that was served, the beautiful presentations.

⁓ the people that were coming into the restaurant with, know, from, I guess, you know, another type of income that I had, you know, that I was used to. ⁓ And all that glory, you know, attracted me and made me love everything that I was, you know, asked to do about the job.

Anthony Codispoti (09:45)
And so how far in the ranks did you rise? You started out polishing silver, vacuuming floors.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (09:49)
So after a year, I think after

about a year, I moved up to be a… ⁓ So I started as a commie, which is your boss person. And then there was a few ranks, then you get to be a ⁓ demi-chef de rang, which is basically a captain assistant, we want to call it here in the US, you ⁓ So you’re more involved with service there, you assist.

the captain ⁓ into the station. You must know the menu, you must know the markings for each and every dish, the appropriate, and so forth. So about a year after I moved up into that position, and then I would say maybe about a year after I was put in charge of my own station with a new one that… ⁓

that I had done the job of for about a year. So that’s how you slowly succeed. In France, it comes a little ⁓ slower, the promotions. really, people observe you, they give you feedback, you get to be working with different people to make sure that if they give you the promotion, you’re ready to go.

Anthony Codispoti (11:09)
Was there a challenging experience in that role there that you remember that provided you with a powerful lesson that you still hold true to today?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (11:18)
I think the most powerful for me was as a dummy chef de home in basically a captain assistant. I remember one day on the Sunday afternoon, which was a big, you know, Sunday lunch in France is big. A lot of people come for their Sunday lunch. And the station that we were given with my captain was one of the biggest and we got slammed. We got basically seeded.

very quickly, ⁓ the was overwhelmed taking orders. And then one of the early tables that had ordered was getting to their main course. And that main course was a duck, and the duck had to be carved table side. The duck comes in from the kitchen, ⁓ and the captain is, at this time, taking an order. So I had seen him carving ducks, right? But I had never…

had the experience myself and it was not something that the restaurant provided. So I just took it upon myself to present the duck and position myself with my gear in front of the customers. with full confidence, I started cutting the duck and I did a terrible job. I massacred that duck. I ended up cutting myself also. So was a little bit of blood. Oh my God, it was a disaster. So I was sent home.

Anthony Codispoti (12:46)
Wow.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (12:47)
for yeah yeah and and ⁓ you know and and and it’s after that that I you know was you know able to you know get ⁓ a little closer I into ⁓ what table side presentations required the skill set the the technique I guess you know I was early into my promotion of ⁓ of a captain assistant

Anthony Codispoti (12:50)
You really messed up.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (13:15)
and though I was very willing to ⁓ support, ⁓ it was not the right time. So that was one of the, I guess, most difficult, most humiliating ⁓ experience I had, I think, in a restaurant. the guests were really nice. They could see that I didn’t have the skills, but they were supportive.

⁓ it’s okay, don’t worry about it. Obviously, the chef d’or came in and finished the duck and managed to make it nice and plate it nicely and so forth. But that was an experience.

Anthony Codispoti (13:53)
Does that have any influence

on the way that you approach leadership management today? Like if somebody were to make a similar mistake under your watch, would you send them home?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (14:04)
Very much so. Actually, that’s what made me, you know, in some of my first roles, work with the chef to ⁓ elevate ⁓ skillset for the newcomers. ⁓ with, you know, some of them would roast chickens and send them out for staff meal. And then before staff meal ⁓ started,

the front of the house team, how to carve them. And that was something that I thought was very important for them to get comfortable with. First time you’re in front of a guest doing that, you’re going to panic. Even if you know how to do it, you’re not going to be super comfortable. the more, exactly, the more you do it, the more you do it, the more…

Anthony Codispoti (14:55)
So get some practice first behind the scenes.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (15:00)
the better you become. then that’s how you start engaging with the guests as you’re because you’re very comfortable with each and every step of the carving and that’s the best way to do it. that’s how, it had a big influence on me somehow because any table-side presentation that was required, ⁓ working with the chef on the menu, I made sure that my team…

knew how to do it very well and knew how to converse about it, knew how to touch the important points of that particular carving so that the guests stay interested.

Anthony Codispoti (15:41)
So that painful slash embarrassing situation for you all those years ago had a positive domino effect on the people that you worked with because you took a different approach to making sure they were better prepared before they went out there in front of the guests. Now you also had the opportunity to work with some world renowned chefs as you were kind of coming up on your career trajectory. Help me with the names here. Daniel Boulot and David Boulie.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (15:46)
you

Exactly.

So,

first, mean, the first real big one was David Boulet. mean, you know, that’s pretty much a few years after I arrived in the US and David had worked ⁓ at Roger Verger’s restaurant, ⁓ which was, you know, the first restaurant I worked into that two Michelin star restaurant called La Mandier de Moujda in the south of France, right up above Cannes, was owned by Roger Verger, a very famous chef that had also a three Michelin star restaurant.

The chef when I was working there when I started was actually Alain Ducasse as a young chef, you know. anybody that had worked within the Roger-Verger, the south of France, there was a little kind of people that, you when you come to New York, there are very few, if any, people that had worked at the time when I arrived in 1985 in New York City. Very few people had worked.

⁓ in Michelin environment at this level. And David happened to be one of them. one of the person that I had worked at another restaurant knew I was working for him. And that’s how I got the job there. So David was my first great chef collaboration when I was in the US. ⁓ Super talented guy. ⁓

Anthony Codispoti (17:34)
What did he teach you?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (17:35)
one of the best

chefs I’ve ever seen. So David told me ⁓ that, know, immersive experiences, you know, it was the only restaurant, mean, and it was the most popular restaurant in New York. I started as a captain there and then moved up to management and collaborated with him, obviously with, you know, the other manager that was there at the time, who was an old colleague. ⁓

immersive meaning that he had imported a beautiful wooden door from the south of France that was the entrance of the restaurant. restaurant was located in Tribeca which is ⁓ a little bit of a still not top area in New York and that was in the 90s already, early 90s. ⁓ And he had apples in crates at the entrance of the restaurant.

And as you walked in, you could smell the apples, which created right away some kind of an atmosphere, which put people, people loved it. People always commented about it. The restaurant was also beautiful. had vaulted ceilings. You had really transpired. You had basically built the cathedral of the south of France. And his cuisine was very reflecting what he had learned with Roger Verger. He worked with other chefs, obviously.

But that was kind of like the direction of the restaurant. Beautiful wine cellar as you went downstairs to the, you could see the wine cellar. had glass windows, beautiful bathrooms. mean, the one thing I learned about David was how he immersed his guests coming in and on the way out. was the first restaurant. We didn’t even do that when I was in the South of France.

We gave out chocolates to the ladies from a wonderful chocolatier that was doing beautiful work in New York City. So there was all these little touches that were extra. But attention to details. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (19:44)
attention to detail. Yeah.

So let’s go back a little bit, because I want to hear about what drove the decision for you to leave France and move overseas.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (19:56)
Well, a break off, heartbroken. I had moved to another restaurant after I had graduated and been a captain. I was invited to work as a captain in another restaurant, was about maybe 10 kilometers away from one from the other.

that was called Loasis in Lanapur. That one had three Michelin stars and it was the best restaurant in the south of France, hands down. Rated over Roger Verger. ⁓ And I was working there at the time, learned a lot because we had no captain assistants, so we had to do everything ourselves, including all table side presentation, picking up food from the kitchen, all of that stuff. So a bigger learning experience and…

You know, being heartbroken after breaking up with my girlfriend, had been for four years. Somebody out of the blue called me and said, hey, you know, there’s a restaurant in Westchester County that is looking for a Metruidie. So if you want to move up, maybe, you know, I was 21 going 22. If you want to move up, they make a lot of money there in the US. You know, you should make a trip. And I was like, well, you know, that that’s a good idea. Actually, you know, it’s time for me maybe to travel and.

and expand my skills into management if there’s an opportunity there. And so that’s, ⁓ it’s that combination of the work opportunity and wanting to get out because, you know, I was not, I didn’t want to hang out where the girlfriend was going to be. I need a change, yes, exactly. Absolutely.

Anthony Codispoti (21:38)
Yeah, you needed to change the scenery from where your heart had just been broken. So at some

point you meet someone, you start a family. Was that here in the States? Was that somewhere else?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (21:51)
At some point, ⁓ it’s only about seven, when I went to work after ⁓ David Boulet, Jean-Georges Van Gerishten made me an offer to come and work with him in open restaurants. And he had one that was open already. ⁓ And we had a connection ⁓ from both of us, just like David, had worked in a restaurant in the south of France that had Michelin stars.

⁓ Jean-Georges worked in Loasis in Annapurl. So we had that connection ⁓ and he, you know, that’s how we connected. ⁓

and we ended up spending about six years together.

Anthony Codispoti (22:42)
And at what point did you start

your family? Where were you at that time?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (22:47)
The

family started at this time when the first restaurant we opened was a French Thai restaurant which required us to go back. Jean-Georges had worked at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok for that famous chef who was his first consulting ⁓ gig. And we went back to Bangkok and we went back before the pre-opening of the restaurant. also went to Singapore.

to source for research and development. And I was very lucky that he took me there, ⁓ obviously, my first trip in Asia. And this is how I met my wife in Singapore. We stayed at the region for seasons in Singapore. And then she was one of the restaurant managers there. And we started connecting. We had another opening.

⁓ in London where she was studying as a hotel in hotel management met again there and then she decided to come to the US and then we started the family so it was it was working with Jean-Georges that we started that family.

Anthony Codispoti (23:54)
And so at some point you take your family from the U.S. and move overseas again. Where did you go? What was kind of driving that decision?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (23:59)
Great.

Well, we were in Las Vegas when that happened. ⁓ I spent about six years in Las Vegas working in hotels, the casinos there, four chefs that had their restaurants there. the education, Nevada came as one of the worst states for education. And as the kids were growing up, we didn’t want to, we wanted ⁓ top education for them. So we decided to…

go back to New York and then from New York, we also thought that ⁓ the opportunity that I was in New York, but the opportunity to go ⁓ and explore other cultures, especially Asia, since my wife was from there, was a good idea. So I was given an opportunity to move to the Philippines and taking on a job that was a little bit over my capabilities.

⁓ But the job was very exciting. The pay was great. The opportunity to, you know, bridge because there’s a cost to move your family obviously overseas and so forth. That all was taken care of. It was an expat package I just couldn’t refuse. And the education was going to be paid for at the International School of Manila, ⁓ which, you know, we were looking forward to because, you know,

kids missing out with other kids from all different cultures was a little bit of a goal from us and to get closer to her family. We’d go back to France from New York was always a little easier than going all the way back to Asia. So that was what made us make that decision.

Anthony Codispoti (25:59)
Tell us about the Yeast Bistronomy. It’s one of your restaurants. You started in Malaysia.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (26:03)
Yeah, after two years,

Philippines, it was a two year contract and we decided not to renew it. the question was, what do we do now? Do we head back to New York where I had most of my career built or do we go to Malaysia, which is where my wife was from? ⁓

And at the time I was very close to another chef that I had met in New York, Greg Koontz, who passed away about five years ago, unfortunately, one of the most talented chefs in New York as well. And he had a restaurant in Hong Kong. So I connected with him and see if he would be interested in working together, developing concepts. The restaurant that he had in Hong Kong was one of his concepts that he had at the upper house ⁓ in… ⁓

in central ⁓ Hong Kong. And I told him, since I’m in Malaysia, maybe I can prospect. I’m gonna move to Malaysia and maybe we can work together. We’ll see each other more often. It’s a short flight. And he was born in Singapore. Gray was born in Singapore. So I said, maybe I could go and knock at the door, develop concept first, make sure they make sense financially, make sure we were in tune ⁓ before we present them.

And then I could go and knock on doors for hotels ⁓ or developers that may be interested in having you there since you’re already in Asia. So you already have a foot in the door. So that’s how we decided to, rather than going back to the US, stay in Malaysia. And then I started consulting with them. ⁓ After a few years, we realized that the third party F &B solution, which was very popular in the US, didn’t really

catch ⁓ developers in Asia. They’re saying, if I’m hiring Four Seasons Hotel ⁓ as a developer, as a hotel owner, why would I need a third party F &B solution? Which had proven to be a very ⁓ successful thing in the US. Why? Because in the US, many restaurants of hotels, unless there’s a name behind it, won’t drive that much traffic.

Anthony Codispoti (28:06)
Explain that. Explain this third-party concept.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (28:32)
know, people will, especially in cities, in big cities, people in New York, for instance, will go to the restaurant of a hotel if a famous chef is there as a consulting chef. Or if he has management.

Anthony Codispoti (28:44)
So when you bring a third

party service in, they’re also helping to drive that foot traffic.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (28:50)
That’s it, yes, very much so. Well, let’s say you take the famous chef that I worked with, Jean-Georges Van Gerichthen. He created a company called Culinary Concept by Jean-Georges, which was a partnership with Starwood Hotels, ⁓ where they would put his name as a collaborative ⁓ in many hotels, in the many hotels all over the world that they had.

Anthony Codispoti (28:52)
Explain more about that. How does that work? What do they do?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (29:20)
You know, we ended up, I mean, I ended up working with him for this company ⁓ back before I moved in the Philippines. And we’d had like one opening every month. One was in Mexico. The other one. Sometimes we had one in New York. We had one everywhere, everywhere. And his name was associated to the hotel. Why? Because he was driving ⁓ people. People. It was a

It was an amenity that was an extra amenity that the hotel could promote that they have St George of Angerishton in the kitchen for your all day dining, for your fine dining and so forth. So that they could keep people. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (30:04)
And how did they get promoted back then? Sorry to step over your words there, Christophe. did, you

know, today, like, everything’s online, it’s social media, maybe to some extent, TV commercials. But back then, how were people knowing that this famous chef was there? How were you communicating that? It’s just word of mouth?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (30:14)
Yep.

I guess probably, you know,

I mean, they were marketing through travel agencies, know, ⁓ Starwood as a whole, you probably, I mean, you know, we’re talking 19…

mid-90s already. ⁓ was a known thing that consulting chefs were already tapping into hotels or hotels were tapping into consulting chefs or famous chef Michelin star chefs to get more traffic into their restaurant, keep their guests inside. I think they ⁓ promoted, the hotel was doing those promotions. I remember with Jean-Georges

going back to Singapore, we’d have like a week promotion with Jean-Jean Van Guyssen that the hotel was promoting ⁓ maybe three months prior. And the restaurant in which the promotion was happening of the hotel, for instance, that Region Four Seasons in Singapore, was packed already because people were interested in, that chef is coming. It’s not like going to that restaurant in that hotel that we’ve been there, nothing exciting about it.

⁓ we’re gonna taste a different menu, ⁓ Jean-Georges Van Geruston’s food. He has a great reputation. Let’s just see what the experience is gonna be like. So ⁓ it was, mean, it still is. It still is now. ⁓ Hotel ⁓ operators rely on good F &B ⁓ chefs.

to in order to increase their traffic.

Anthony Codispoti (32:12)
And why are they called F &B chefs? Why don’t they just hire the chefs

sort of like directly themselves? Help me understand the relationship here.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (32:19)
They,

well, because chefs enjoy having their own restaurant first. I mean, if I’d be a chef, I’d want to have my own restaurant. I want to do my own thing. know that chef, they have their own ego and it’s a good thing. And back many, many, years ago, chefs were hired by restaurateurs and then they were executing.

And then slowly chefs became owners, got smarter, wanting to learn more about management. And the best chefs are the ones that own their own restaurant. So you can’t really get a very good chef if you’re a hotel operator. You can, there are some, there’s some great executive chef, but more from a management standpoint.

than a culinary standpoint. know, there was a trend back in the 60s where people had…

Anthony Codispoti (33:22)
And so you saw a

business opportunity here.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (33:27)
Yes.

Anthony Codispoti (33:28)
to go from being an operator to a consultant, to be this F and B, yeah, say more about that.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (33:35)
Exactly,

yeah. Basically, an opportunity to work with chefs, you know, I had at the time, you know, going into when I I started ⁓ when I launched FNB concept development, I had worked with many chefs and acquired a reputation of, being a successful ⁓ manager or consultant. ⁓

So ⁓ these chefs ⁓ started with one restaurant, whether it’s Jean-Georges Van Geruchten or Daniel Boulu or ⁓ Greg Koons or, they all start with one, they acquire their reputation and then after their approach, naturally approached by people, real estate developers said, hey, I have that space, you should do a restaurant there. What do you think? I’ll pay for all the renovation.

we can be partners and then you just have to come in with your staff and then you just roll out your concept.

Anthony Codispoti (34:38)
And so at that point, who owns the place? Who’s running the place? Who’s the operator?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (34:38)
cells.

Well, there’s different way to skin the cat. They’re either license deals where the chef will already have a name and a reputation and he has a few restaurants. basically hotels or developers or real estate will do a license deal with him or they do a management deal where it’s kind of like ⁓ they get the chef’s name, but the staff.

Only the management team is with the chef. The chef brings his management team, but the rest of the staff is usually with the hotel. That’s management deals with hotels. So there’s different ways that they set up their contract for a certain period of time. Some hotels switch chef because they want to keep it interesting.

I recently worked with ⁓ the new trend now is to ⁓ invite chefs, chefs invite each other for like a two night ⁓ pop-up in their own restaurant. Just to keep their crowd interested. ⁓ my friend ⁓ from Thailand has a two Michelin star restaurant.

Anthony Codispoti (35:59)
Like a visiting celebrity, yeah.

⁓

Christophe Chatron-michaud (36:10)
He’s going to come in next month and we’re going to collaborate. We’re going to create a menu. There’s going to be some of my dishes and some of his dishes. And then you promote that on Rezzy or Open Table. And people come because, wow, that’s great. They’re looking forward to meet a chef or they’ve known that chef because they traveled all the way out there to Thailand. They had a great meal there. ⁓ all of a sudden that guy is in New York. Let’s go.

Anthony Codispoti (36:35)
Yeah. And so you started

F &B concept development back in 1999. What were those early days like getting clients, building the business?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (36:47)
⁓ It was not easy, not easy. ⁓ You had to, know, pound the pavement a little bit and, you know, make some phone calls and see who was opening, who needed…

Anthony Codispoti (37:00)
How about that first client? How did you

get the first one? Maybe we’ll hone in on that. Do remember how you got the first one?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (37:07)
First client, first like, you know, major client was somebody that had started, but actually not a chef, ⁓ was ⁓ a, ⁓ happened to be a friend of mine that had started a few wine bars in New York City. And after opening three of them, he had opportunities and real estate opportunities to open others and needed support, management support.

And because of the fact that we had worked together in the past, you we had kept a good relationship and he said, you know, I think that, you know, it would be good that we, that I hire you as a consultant ⁓ first because you know a little bit better. He happened to be a bartender. He was my bartender at one of the restaurants, the head bartender, and went into wine bar and did very well, very well for himself, you know. And we ended up being partner actually at some point.

through that first consulting contract that I had with them. But I stayed with this contract for about, I would say, a good two years. And then we ended up being partners, we opened up a wine bar together. So that’s how it pretty much started. FNB was created in 99, but I didn’t really use it until…

Anthony Codispoti (38:27)
What was one of the…

Christophe Chatron-michaud (38:33)
years later. just wanted to create it. I wanted to partner up with a chef in Las Vegas at the time. I was in Las Vegas at the time in 1999. No, actually, I’m sorry. I was in New York. I wanted to partner with a chef and it didn’t work out. He ended up going into another direction because it’s always good to have a chef partner when you’re a consultant in food and beverage.

You have the management side and you have the culinary side. So it’s a better package together. It just didn’t happen and I ended up, you know, keeping the company for myself.

Anthony Codispoti (39:10)
Now, what’s the state of the company now? What? Tell us how it’s evolved and what you’re doing today.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (39:17)
So ⁓ it’s evolved into ⁓ in between being sometimes ⁓ clients would rather have you as exclusively because the company is small, it’s just run by my wife and I. So I’m the front person that will going into a project or collaborate sometimes with other consultants.

based on the size, the scope of the project and so forth. But we’ve always wanted to keep it small this way. we go in sometimes on an exclusive or sometimes as a consultant in food and beverage for a larger hotel project where other consultants are involved.

Lately, ⁓ what FNB has been doing is refocus on Michelin star restaurant, ⁓ mostly openings, ⁓ or ⁓ those that have difficulties into their ⁓ second or third year, they have a Michelin star, business is always growing, they want to change a few things, or financially they’re not doing as well as they should be.

⁓ and they cannot identify the issues that they are having. ⁓ And then they bring me in ⁓ for a refresh.

Anthony Codispoti (40:56)
And so what does that refresh look like? Are you bringing in a new method of hiring employees, training employees, ⁓ different way to manage the books, different way to order food and beverage? Help paint a picture of all the things that you touch.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (40:57)
That’s how we do.

Well, usually

there’s a, you know, at least, you know, the first week in operations with the team, with the chef, looking at the menu, looking at the, the guests, looking at the team in the kitchen, working together with HR to see what, you know, are there any potential problem, observing the staff, observing management. So there’s basically that the whole week of observation.

where you basically at the end of the week usually I’ll put out a report ⁓ with images and tell them this is what I’ve seen, ⁓ this is where I think the restaurant can improve. Sometimes it’s maybe ⁓ advising ⁓ better management skills. ⁓

rarely the chef because it’s usually the chef that hires you. And so it’s never really that much of a culinary issue, but sometimes also chefs have their own way and think that that type of menu or that direction, that culinary direction is the right one. And sometimes also you need to consult them and tell them that maybe you should try this, maybe you should try that. Maybe your food cost is too high. You need to…

maybe work with good product, but not necessarily top ones that will increase your food cost. And it’s not really necessary, you know, given the culinary concept that you have. So there’s many areas where you can touch up, where you can improve, and then you develop a plan, a strategy, you know, to get there. And then you work out a time, you know, on which, you know, we’ll have the contract and then we should be able to deliver.

within that period of time and see some results. That’s how it works.

Anthony Codispoti (43:13)
So they’re typically

contracts for a limited period of time. You help them sort of get everything in order and then you move on to the next client, the next job.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (43:24)
Yeah,

you move on or you stay on. Some clients want you back every three months or six months to kind of like, know, just especially if it’s a new concept because they want to see that the they want to keep the concept evergreen, you know, making sure that it doesn’t dilute after the consultant is gone, you know, that, you know, the standards start dropping from management to kitchen to.

overall experience. some clients would like to keep you on or sometimes it’s over and then the focus was really on the financial side for instance or the focus was on HR, the focus was replacing a manager and training a new manager. So many things that people want sometimes.

Anthony Codispoti (44:18)
So you’ve

done this work for decades. You’ve had an opportunity to work in some of the greatest hotels and restaurants in the world. What are some of the common themes that you see, common problems across different client locations?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (44:37)
⁓ The most common problem is probably the one that I was hired for and where my best skills are is ⁓ front of the house management, morale, ⁓ skills ⁓ of front of the house managers, being administrative skills or sometimes social skills.

when it comes to greeting guests or just, and sometimes leadership skills as well, leading the team, motivating the team, having a direction, having a plan, working with the chef, communication. ⁓ I would say communication and skill set in front of the house management is the most…

Anthony Codispoti (45:26)
Mm.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (45:33)
issue that is often what I’m hired for.

Anthony Codispoti (45:38)
And what are the big levers that you can pull to fix that stuff?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (45:45)
⁓ experience.

you know, some restaurant owners or chef owners ⁓ don’t necessarily have the experience to hire the right manager because their skill set is different, because they don’t ask the right questions, or to identify whether that person is, you your representation as a chef in the front part of your restaurant.

⁓ So that’s, yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (46:23)
So what qualities,

Christophe, do you look for in that manager? What tells you that that’s the right person?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (46:30)
Hard-working, experienced, knowledgeable, leadership skills, someone that has a vision, that understands numbers, that understands how to speak to people, especially now, I mean, know, grew up in…

in the profession with people yelling at you, people throwing things at you. It was the case back 40 years ago. Now ⁓ it’s more about coaching, ⁓ motivating people to make sure that you’re not going to motivate somebody by throwing him a plate, which…

did not motivate me when it happened to me back then. But it kept me ⁓ focused, actually. But this doesn’t work anymore. And that’s why I look at someone that has the leadership that can get people excited, together with the chef about the food that we serve and how we’re to be the best at what we’re doing ⁓ and how many.

Anthony Codispoti (47:30)
Yeah.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (47:50)
⁓ options we have ⁓ to grow from where we are.

Anthony Codispoti (48:00)
Hmm. Kristoff, as you look back over your life and your career, all the things that you’ve done, can you pull out one serious challenge that you’ve had to overcome in your life? What that was, how you got through it, what did you learn?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (48:22)
I think that one of the biggest challenges that I had was ⁓ moving my family to the Philippines, which was not a country that we knew. Even my wife had never been in the Philippines. ⁓ So that transition when you have teenagers. ⁓

was a challenge in itself. know, the kids have to leave their friends, they’re going overseas. ⁓ It’s not like they’re moving from coast to coast and staying in the US. ⁓ So that was a challenge to, you know, especially for my wife, because I went straight into work for what I was hired for.

⁓ But that was a challenge at the time, moving overseas with kids and at the same time taking on a job that was a little bit above my skill set. And I was challenged on that side professionally myself, taking on ⁓ a vice president of operations role in a new country ⁓ with a very large company that was

still is I think the largest conglomerate in the Philippines it’s called the SM investment corporation and ⁓ one of their subdivision is a hotel division so very corporate environment coming from Michelin coming from you know ⁓ also other hotel groups that’s even a larger structure where people don’t necessarily within the company understand you know why is there an investment in that hotel side of their business is not

the most important, you know, and I was, yeah, so I was very challenged by being in a very corporate environment, new people, new culture, very different way of doing things. That was probably, you know, it took me a year to, on survival mode between coming home with, you know, the kids.

Anthony Codispoti (50:42)
Mmm.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (50:44)
complaining that it was not really their thing here. ⁓ My wife was also alone. mean, it didn’t really get much support from Malaysia, the Malaysian side, and me being totally ⁓ weeded with my ⁓ new job that I didn’t really know how to do.

Anthony Codispoti (51:06)
So you said it took you about a year before you kind of settled in. Do you think your wife and kids ever settled in?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (51:14)
Yeah, they also eventually, mean, know, the kids made friends at school. ⁓ They were thankfully doing well. So there was no ⁓ additional stress that would need to come from the parents for the kids’ results in school, which was great. ⁓ And my wife eventually settled. She’s great at settling anywhere she goes. mean, we traveled everywhere.

You know, it was the big one with teenage kids, but she eventually settled and was happy.

Anthony Codispoti (51:53)
So if I were to ask them about that time there in the Philippines, would they speak of it fondly?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (52:00)
Yes, they would. The same situation happened two years later when we moved to Malaysia, but they already knew ⁓ what international school is like, what making new friends is like. ⁓ My wife was home where she grew up and so forth. So, yeah, yeah. So the Philippines was, ⁓ now, mean, my son’s turning 30 this year.

Anthony Codispoti (52:23)
they had already built those muscles. Yeah.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (52:30)
and my daughter is turning 27 next month. So they’re grown up adults now. If you would have asked them this question 10 years ago, I’m not sure what they would have said, but now they look at it as a fun experience for them. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (52:47)
good experience. Yeah.

And do they, where do they live? Are they in the States? Are they overseas?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (52:52)
Yeah, my son lives here between New York City and Utah and my daughter lives in Seattle. So they’re in the States.

Anthony Codispoti (52:59)
Okay, but I’m

sure they’re very comfortable with different cultures, international travel, could pick up and live or work somewhere else.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (53:04)
Exactly, exactly. They actually thanked

us. Yes, they did thank us for ⁓ having exposed them throughout their teenage so much to so many different people, different cultures, ⁓ that when they came back to study in actually not in the US, but in Canada, in Montreal, at McGill University, they were stunned on…

by how much they had traveled and how much they knew about the world ⁓ when they finally met not international student, but people that had grew up and stayed in the same place throughout their first 20 years, the first 20 years of their lives.

Anthony Codispoti (53:49)
Christophe, for those listening who are maybe about to or are already in the process of going through a very similar uncomfortable move into an unfamiliar place, as you think back to what helped you and your family get through that tough time, what advice would you offer us?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (54:11)
Communication, I think it’s very important to ⁓ make sure there is a daily meal ⁓ or two daily meals together as a family so that you can go over ⁓ your day, what you’ve gone through or what’s ahead of you, what are the challenges, ⁓ just so that you stay in tune with

everyone’s evolution through the transition. I think my biggest advice is really to stay close, as close as possible, and communicate as much as possible throughout that transition.

Anthony Codispoti (54:56)
Kristoff, what’s your superpower?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (55:01)
⁓ Great. ⁓ I’m someone that always wants to give 150%. ⁓ Sometimes it’s actually hurt me with the family, being a little distant, ⁓ prioritizing work, but my superpower is really, I mean, when it comes to my career, it’s the drive that I have to be at the top of my job. ⁓

and above and beyond always deliver more than people expect.

Anthony Codispoti (55:36)
Do you think you were born with that

grit or is it something that you’ve acquired over time?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (55:43)
⁓ I wasn’t born with it. I acquired over time, you know, I think I got that fixation, like we talked about earlier, ⁓ that ⁓ there’s no comeback. Like, you know, from when my father sent me to that restaurant in the south of France, you know, I was determined not to come back and to succeed. And I’ve kept this with me.

for any project, any job that I took or any project that I took on as a consultant to just basically perform to the best of my abilities and make whoever I was working for or with as a collaboration happy.

Anthony Codispoti (56:35)
So you say that you weren’t born with it, Christophe. You weren’t born with grit, but you found it in yourself along the way. Do you think it’s possible as a manager, as a leader, to create a situation or an environment to help others discover that grit in themselves?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (56:40)
I don’t think so.

Unless you really get to know them very well, I don’t think it’s really possible in a professional environment, you know. Unless you get to know them well enough that you can find out, identify what would trigger them to have that grit. ⁓

It’s difficult. mean, people keep their distance in a professional environment. you know, ⁓ I do motivational speeches when I’m a consultant so that the leader, ⁓ the general manager of the restaurant or any of the managers, you know, would get inspired by that. But, you know, I cannot really put it inside them.

Anthony Codispoti (57:30)
Yeah.

Hmm.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (57:54)
I can only show them the inside grid that I have.

Anthony Codispoti (57:54)
There’s a follow-up question I want to ask here, and I’m just not sure how to phrase it.

Yeah. Like, what would be the possible mechanisms to trigger it in somebody? I hear what you’re saying, like, it would be difficult because you got to really get to know the person.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (58:13)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (58:16)
And you think you have to get to know the person because that would lead you to what their trigger would be?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (58:16)
But.

Yes.

Anthony Codispoti (58:25)
I’m trying to understand what that pathway could look like. And maybe I’m asking the impossible question. I don’t know.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (58:30)
Yeah,

I mean the more you know someone, the more you know how to approach them in what you have identified as their weaknesses. Because it’s by knowing them that you understand part of their weaknesses, I guess. And sometimes…

Anthony Codispoti (58:42)
Hmm.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (59:00)
work and or a contract or a collaboration you know does not give you that intimate opportunity to identify where to start.

Anthony Codispoti (59:14)
So

you mentioned weaknesses. Do you think that’s the pathway to helping somebody find their grit or for them to find their own grit, their own resilience?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (59:25)
I guess I shouldn’t have said, mean, weaknesses in where they’re not succeeding, you know, but it’s not necessarily because they’re weak. It’s, know, sometimes they just don’t have, you know, that great or that something in them that would, you know, help them be better is not necessarily, you know, associated with something that happened to them or something that.

Anthony Codispoti (59:30)
Yeah.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (59:54)
they might have been exposed to as they grow up.

Anthony Codispoti (1:00:01)
Yeah. What’s next for Kristoff and F &B concept development?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:00:06)
Well, you know what, I’m not sure. The last contract ended up in July. ⁓ My wife and I ⁓ decided to travel since. been, you know, kind of like traveling a little bit all over the world. We pushed back a trip to Mexico, but of course, all FNB related, new concept, you know. But great project, always excite me. So I ⁓ haven’t really…

yet reached out after the holidays to see what that’s going to be. ⁓ But something a little bit outside of operations, outside of restaurant would be refreshing for me. And surprisingly, ⁓ while we were in Japan a month and a half ago, ⁓ I took a kintsugi class. You know what kintsugi is.

Anthony Codispoti (1:01:02)
What is that?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:01:03)
So, kintsugi is… See, you have a cup or a plate that you have that falls on the floor and is broken or that is chipped. Kintsugi is a Japanese art, whereas they put it back together, they glue it back together with either gold or silver powder.

and it makes them somewhat more beautiful. I don’t know if you’ve seen, you know, Kintsugi images of plates, but it basically shows, you know, that though it’s not perfect, it’s not reconstituted, you could see where it broke, but it’s beautifully put back together.

Anthony Codispoti (1:01:52)
You can see where it broke. You can see the crack.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:01:59)
And this is something that, I mean, it’s the Japanese art that is well known there and pretty much around the world. And I’ve been thinking about continuing on this and see if restaurants, some of the ones that I know most, will spend all the way up to $100 for a plate. And when it falls on the floor,

only gets shipped, it’s, you you can’t use it anymore. So as a, as a step back from being in operation, being in management ⁓ and consulting, I’ve been considering doing something with my hands, something a little bit more quiet, something less stressful that I could sell to the people that I know.

Anthony Codispoti (1:02:49)
Hmm.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:02:57)
that will be interested in showing plates that have their own character.

Anthony Codispoti (1:03:05)
⁓ interesting. And we’re gonna have to follow up with that. That’s fun.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:03:07)
Well, it’s one of the things, mean, you know, about a concept, a

concept, a new restaurant opening with a great chef always motivates me. So we’ll see, we’ll see. You know, but there’s no rush really to, I mean, this is one of some of the things that, you know, as you get a little bit older, you want to maybe, you know, just experience something different that is still related, that still keeps you in touch with the food and beverage world, but in a different way.

Anthony Codispoti (1:03:15)
Yeah.

Well, Kristoff, I just have one more question for you today. But before I ask it, I want to do three quick things. First of all, everyone listening, if you want to get in touch with Kristoff today, his website is fandbconcept.com. Everything is spelled out, fandbconcept.com. And his email address is kristoff at fandbconcept.com. And so Kristoff is just Christopher without the R. So

christophe, Christophe at FNBconcept.com. We’ll have links to all that in the show notes for folks. Also as a reminder, if you want to get more restaurant employees access to therapists, doctors, and prescription meds that as paradoxical as it seems, actually increases your company’s net profits, reach out to us at addbackbenefits.com. Finally, if you are enjoying the show today,

A quick comment or review on your favorite podcast app goes a long way towards helping others discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick moment to do that right now. So last question for you, Kristoff. A year from now, you and I reconnect and you are celebrating something big. What is that big thing you hope to be celebrating a year from today?

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:04:49)
Maybe it’s going to be mastering Kintsugi and having made a business out of it. As I’m going to focus on it, I mean, can show you some of the pieces of ⁓ a bowl that I’m in the process of working with. You see, so it has cracked in many areas and those little tapes, I’ve put it together. There’s a little chip here that I’ll have to refill and imagine that piece with gold instead of those red tapes around it.

Anthony Codispoti (1:05:04)
⁓

⁓

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:05:19)
So

maybe I will have mastered that. don’t know. I’m excited about this new project of mine and see how you can ⁓ knock on doors of restaurants and collect their plates and then bring them back in a beautiful way for those that are interested. ⁓ Or maybe ⁓ next year it’ll be a great new restaurant opening. Who knows?

Anthony Codispoti (1:05:46)
Well, we’ve got a reason to follow up in a year and find out where you have taken these ideas. So Christophe from F &B Concept Development, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate you.

Christophe Chatron-michaud (1:05:49)
Thank you.

Thank

you very much for having me, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti (1:06:01)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.