Good reads 2018: Ritz & Escoffier, The Hotelier, The Chef and The Rise of The Leisure Class, Luke Barr.

Like everybody, I love going out and I love a good meal... On top of that I have done some research on Haute Cuisine, and how how Chefs Entrepreneurs innovate: Observe, Innovate, Succeed so when I found that book, I was very excited!

It tells an amazing story of the top Hotelier Cesar Ritz (a poor Swiss peasant) who created the modern luxury hotel as we know it and of his friend Auguste Escoffier (the French Chef and father of traditional cuisine). Together they work at The Savoy and make it a reference for the Royal family and the likes but also for the new class of artists, industrialists and courtesans. They invented the concept of Sunday dinner at the Hotel!

It is an amazing example of the attention to detail that luxury takes. Ritz spent hours with his wife testing the light in the restaurant... It had to be bright enough to make women look beautiful but not too bright! The day before the opening Ritz found that the restaurant tables were too high... he sent them back to be fixed. It could only be impeccable!

Escoffier kept notes on every single dinner served and its menu to remember guests' preferences. He even named some of his dishes on the special guest for whom it was invented: Pêche Melba in the honour of the Opera singer Nellie Melba!

It is very exciting to follow their success at The Savoy and a few other places... it is sad (but interesting) to see how they are then fired for mismanagement and for accepting bribes. An interesting case of corporate governance and of the abuse f the star system...

Then they developed the Ritz in Paris and The Carlton in London!

It ends with a very sad ending when Ritz falls of a burnout end never recovers from the postponement of the coronation ceremony (the future king had to have a emergency surgery) in 1901. Cesar Ritz had planned every detail and was welcoming part of the Royal family as well as a few hundreds distinguished guests!

In conclusion, it shows an era of change in the UK and in Europe where the aristocrats and members of the Royal Family would sit next to Sarah Bernhardt (whose favourite dish was Escoffier's scrambled eggs with a note of garlic and Moet) and Opera stars. Hotels started to be a place where women could have lunch on their own (first in a separate room...).

If, like me, you like entrepreneurship, governance, creativity, food and the personal stories around it, this is for you!

Enjoy, particularly in the festive season full of champagne, crêpe suzette and poires Belle Helene (all named by Escoffier)!