“It was a question of security and potentially life or death”: Stéphanie Le Quellec recounts the day she had to evacuate her restaurant

“I think that when you are a chef and also a business manager, you have the role of a bit of a boat captain. It was the first time in my life that I was confronted with this but it allowed me to immediately enter the world of entrepreneurship and see what my life as a captain was going to be like” confided Stéphanie Le Quellec in a video from Paris Match. If today, the chef has become a jury on the show Top Chef, it is thanks to her remarkable career. A journey is sometimes full of unforeseen events.

The chef returned to this day when she had to close her restaurant in full service and call the firefighters. But why ? We will explain everything to you.

It was five years ago, just a few days after the opening of his restaurant “La Scène”. It’s around 2 p.m., 2:15 p.m. The kitchen team is in full service. The restaurant is full. Customers eat quietly. It was upon entering the kitchen that chef Stéphanie Le Quellec smelled an unusual smell, a worrying smell of gas. No time to think, even if the restaurant is full, part bistro and part gastronomic, the chef has no other solution than to call the firefighters and evacuate the establishment: “It was suddenly when I came back to the kitchen that I took a whiff of gas. We immediately called the firefighters. He told us we are arriving but in the meantime we have to evacuate. There were between 50 and 60 customers enjoying their dish. They were asked to evacuate. We served them a little drink outside.”

It is therefore important to keep your cool although this incident brings back bad memories for the boss: “Immediately these are things that scare you. It’s a kind of trauma for me, the gas and the fire. It generates quite strong memories because I had a fire when I was younger in my house where I had the children who were there so those were a bit traumatic memories”.

Despite the customers who want to stay to have their dessert, the chef asks them to go out and offers them a small drink outside as well as an exclusive signing session: “I had just released a book so I started laughing and signing more than thirty books to everyone. We try to do our job as a restorer and recreate something a little human, a little friendly”. Ultimately, customers will not be able to re-enter the restaurant but will be invited to return. “I was very embarrassed but at the same time it was a matter of safety and potentially life and death. There is no need to think, we react”.

It was finally at the end of the day that the mystery surrounding this smell of gas was resolved: “It was a neighboring gallery owner who had the floor sanded with extremely powerful solvents and who threw it down the building’s pipes”. Fortunately, there was more fear than harm: “In the end, it produced vapors, it gave off very strong odors that reminded us of gas, but it was almost nothing.” .