Meeting with François Delahaye, Plaza Athénée

Was Alain Ducasse's arrival at your hotel in 2000 an economic choice?

François Delahaye - This was obviously a factor. Before he came, the restaurant business at the Plaza Athénée was losing almost 11 million francs a year. Today, we are making a profit of two to three million euros. However, it's not the three-star restaurant that's making us money, but everything that revolves around it: banquets, the Cour Jardin and Relais Plaza restaurants. Haute cuisine is like Formula 1 or haute couture, it doesn't make much money, but everyone talks about you.

Alain Ducasse embodies the evolution from chef to high-end consultant. His talent is expressed on every continent and is backed by the reputation of his signature restaurant at the Plaza Athénée.

So a world-renowned chef is essential to a palace's brand image?

F. D. - Let's be clear: a hotel makes money from its rooms. But anyone who invests 100,000 euros in redecorating their rooms and equipping them with iPads, or renovating their bathrooms, will never mention it. On the other hand, the sophisticated cuisine of Alain Ducasse or Christophe Michalak, who launches a religieuse with salted butter caramel, is the talk of the world press.

Without a great chef, a great pastry chef and a great barman, a palace would not be the place where local customers meet up and where their friends who are passing through like to stay. With Éric Briffard, an excellent chef who now has two stars at the George V and who was at the Plaza before Ducasse, I wouldn't have had the same dynamic. If the hotel has once again become the number one in Paris, it's partly thanks to him.

And the more people talk about Alain Ducasse in Las Vegas or Hong Kong today, the better it is for our hotel. Even if the Plaza Athénée existed before him and will continue to exist after him.