“This is THE meeting of my life”: Alain Ducasse will soon open a new temple of gastronomy in a historic place

Michel Guérard, Gaston Lenôtre and Alain Chapel… Alain Ducasse trained with the greatest chefs. It was at the age of 16 that he opened the doors of a restaurant in the South-West for the first time as a young cook. Years later, in 2005, he became the first triple-starred chef in the Michelin Guide. Today, he is launching a new goal for the year 2025: opening a gastronomy empire not far from Paris. We’ll tell you more about this dizzying new project.

It was in 2021 that Alain Ducasse decided to embark on a dizzying project: renovating the Maison du Peuple, a place classified as a historic monument, to transform it into a mecca for gastronomy. Located on the outskirts of Paris, this building was built in the 1930s thanks to architects Eugène Beaudouin and Marcel Lods. At the time, this particularly lively place brought together the Lorraine Market, a cinema, a theater stage, a village hall… In short, it was the meeting point for many residents.

Years later, Alain Ducasse wishes to revive the place which had been abandoned for 30 years now. After spending 2.1 million euros to buy this place, the chef injected nearly 30 million euros into the project to transform the Maison du Peuple into a temple of gastronomy.

In total, the chef decided to renovate the 4,200 square meters of space. “It was love at first sight for this place, as soon as I started to climb the stairs… It was THE encounter of my life. We are going to make the Maison du Peuple a lively place open to all, a showcase of our French know-how” asserts the chef during the launch of the project on January 25. Indeed, after having had the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Île-de-France Region, work began at the beginning of 2024. The goal for him? Promote the know-how of the Ducasse house. “The multi-star chef plans to transform it into a “Villa Medici of international gastronomy”specify our colleagues from Going out in Paris who relayed the information.

We will thus be able to find the company’s headquarters as well as four chocolate, coffee, ice cream and biscuit factories. An international laboratory with chefs in residence will also be created as well as a space dedicated to the history of the place. Finally, visitors will also be able to sit in a café or eat in a large refectory which will be reminiscent of broths.

For the moment, no opening date has been set but this project could see the light of day in 2025 or even early 2026. To be continued.