How to build a restaurant empire: Victor Lugger, co-founder of Big Mamma group
He's one half of the team behind some of the most popular restaurants in Europe. But it's been a long road to get here...
Words: Joseph Bullmore
The day I fell in love with cooking was the day I left home. My mother and my grandmother are the most amazing cooks. Once I left, I realised that I’d have to do it myself. So I got on the phone, at the age of 20, and I asked my mother: ‘How did you cook this? How did you cook that?’ At first, I was terrible — I made all the usual mistakes, and a lot of inedible food. But slowly I got better. And the better I got, the more my love of food grew.
When I was a kid, I had a very dull vision of professional life. I always thought I wanted to be a corporate CEO, and I went to business school in order to get into that world. After I graduated, it only took me three months to realise that I was probably not suited for that long, steep corporate ladder. To me, it was way more exciting to take risks, be out of my comfort zone, innovate, and break rules — just like in my cooking.
The bar at Trattoria Gloria, Shoreditch. ©Jérôme Galland
Circolo Popolare, Fitzrovia
La Felicità, Paris. ©Jérôme Galland
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