In 2012, I began an apprenticeship as a cook in a very fine Genevan establishment run by a chef as talented as he is demanding.

At the end of my apprenticeship, my goal was to become a chef and open my own establishment, but I sorely lacked the management skills needed to run it properly in the future. So I enrolled at the École Hôtelière de Genève, and I never thought that the EHG would open up so many possibilities for me.

Between two internships, one in Geneva for the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the second for the Ritz Paris, I met the founders of Baghera/wines. I found that their then-new project offered a new vision of the auction world and, above all, brought an unprecedented level of care and focus to fine wines. So I was given the opportunity to join the Baghera team. The founders allowed me to evolve at the same pace as the company.

Today, I’m back in Geneva for a new project focusing on the restaurant and hotel business in the city of Calvin and elsewhere.

Let’s be honest, I think I’ve always loved gastronomy. It’s an integral part of my life, and I can easily say that it’s my primary passion. I’m lucky enough to have people around me who love it too. A mother who swears by the best products, an uncle who is a passionate restaurateur and a grandmother who is a very good cook. I think what I like most about cooking is the spirit of receiving, of welcoming with the aim of pleasing those you receive… and what better vehicle than gastronomy?

That’s why I fell into it, because of the joy it brings to everyone.

My goal was to have my own restaurant. My role model was Philippe Chevrier, who had completed an apprenticeship and, a few years later, had opened Châteauvieux by sheer force of character and sweat. I wanted to do the same. I also had in mind that running a restaurant without any knowledge of management (of any kind) was risky business. That’s why I decided to study at the École Hôtelière de Genève.

Frankly, I hesitated for a long time about EHL. My uncle had been to this school and I looked at this institution with stars in my eyes.

At the time, I made an appointment with a well-known hotelier in Geneva, who asked me what I was looking for in a school. I told him that I wanted a school on a human scale, where you could talk to your teachers, and where the number of students made it possible to create an interesting collegiality. This hotelier warmly recommended EHG to me.

I believe that the level of study is similar between these two schools, it’s mainly their size that differentiates them. So I chose the one I felt was the more family-oriented of the two. A bit like a boutique hotel, in fact!

During my training, I had the opportunity to do two extremely different and rich internships. The first was with the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, helping to organize the famous Watches and Wonders event, and the second with the Ritz-Escoffier cooking school in Paris.

These internships enable theoretical training to be put into practice. It’s a necessary part of any meaningful training program. There are so many factors that make these internships vital to a quality curriculum.

For me, these internships have been an extraordinary opportunity to learn how to behave in a company and also how to align ourselves with the expectations of the companies we work for and the customers we welcome.

• How to be
• Team spirit
• Knowledge
  

I got to know Michael Ganne and Julie Carpentier (the founders) at the very beginning of Baghera in 2015. From then on, I followed the company’s development very closely. I was lucky enough to join them in April 2018 to organize the “Henri Jayer The Heritage” sale. My position then evolved from events manager to operations manager, and then to Singapore office manager. They put their trust in a young hotel school graduate, for which I am extremely grateful. Over the past 6 years, we’ve grown from a team of 4 permanent staff to 14, with expansion both in terms of the number of auctions and via the opening of a physical and online boutique, as well as a private club. There have been a number of very fine projects. The Club 1865 and the Boutique by Baghera/Wines were two projects that really stood out for me, because they were more directly linked to direct customer service… which is certainly what I like best.

Singapore is an absolutely breathtaking city, a bubble in the middle of Asia. During the pandemic, we began collaborating remotely with restaurant owner friends in Singapore, setting up a system that enabled us to bid from abroad, filming the customers and allowing them to see the auctioneer live. This enabled us to create a real bidding dynamic, even during Covid. With this solution, we developed a real network of customers in the city, after which we exchanged ideas and I was approached to open a new physical office there. Moving to another culture is always an opportunity. You learn something new every day, whether it’s our customers’ habits, needs or expectations. It also enabled us to organize the first auction on Asian soil. I wish everyone an experience like this.

Indeed, an exciting new project is on its way. I think you’ll be hearing more about it soon. I’m back for a project that’s perhaps closer to my EHG curriculum.

What I would recommend for anyone wishing to join a course at EHG is to like people and be open-minded. The rest you learn, and you learn very well at this fine school. Secondly, you have to be curious, hard-working and a bit opportunistic to help certain doors open – it never hurts! The hotel and restaurant professions are very noble because they offer a service to others. They are demanding professions, requiring a great deal of devotion to those who wish to spend time in our establishments. The customer who walks through our doors is making a choice, and in a competitive environment, we must consider it an honor that he has chosen us. If we start from this principle, I think we understand the fundamental basis of what makes a fine hotel-restaurant, with or without a star.