Private chef for the Cannes Lions Festival: culinary consulting to design a brand pavilion's offer
Contents
Introduction
Every June, the Cannes Lions Festival brings together agencies, advertisers and platforms from around the world on the Croisette. Each brand sets up a pavilion there, and the table becomes a conversation tool as much as a service.
Designing this culinary offer is not the same mission as executing it. A culinary consultancy delivers a concept, a set of specifications and a service standard, which the on-site team then applies day after day.
Lory Herschkorn and Fabien Mimoun, the Marseille private chef duo, practise this advisory work drawing on their experience of service in villas and on board yachts. Their advice always starts from the client's programme, never from a ready-made menu.
This article details a complete consulting mission, from the pavilion audit to the file handed over after the festival. It describes what the consulting chef writes, passes on and checks, and what they deliberately leave to the execution team.
Culinary consulting: a design mission, not a service
During festival week, a brand pavilion serves hundreds of covers without ever becoming a restaurant. The offer has to stand on its own without the chef who conceived it, since they cannot stand behind every plate that goes out.
This is the very definition of a consulting mission. The International Festival of Creativity brings together teams who know how to produce an event, but rarely how to run a kitchen five days in a row.
What the client is really buying
An agency or a brand does not buy hours of cooking; it buys an offer that is reproduced identically from the first day to the last. The deliverable is a document, not a service.
This document describes the dishes, the portion weights, the production order and the way to serve. It enables any properly trained team to reproduce the original intention.
Why a brand calls on an outside chef
Local caterers know the venue and the volumes, but work from their own catalogue. A consulting chef arrives with no menu to sell, and therefore with no tension between their offer and the client's real need.
They also bring a gastronomic perspective that event planning often treats last. Our dedicated page on the private chef for the Cannes Lions Festival presents the formats we execute ourselves, and our consulting draws on that practice.
The three deliverables of a consulting mission
A mission concludes with three documents: the culinary concept, the production specifications and the service standard. None of the three exceeds about ten pages, so that they remain readable backstage.
A fourth, optional document records the lessons learned from the week. Its main purpose is to prepare the next edition without starting from scratch.
Auditing the pavilion and the week's programme
No concept is written before reading the pavilion's programme hour by hour. The rhythm of the talks dictates everything else, from the format of the plates to the number of runs through the kitchen.
The audit takes place in two stages: a remote reading of the programme, then a site visit. We showed this in another setting in our article on the category managers' working lunch in a villa – the culinary sequence follows the agenda, not the other way round.
Reading the programme hour by hour
A pavilion alternates conferences, private meetings, screenings and free time. Each slot calls for a different form of food, standing or seated, quiet or convivial.
We transfer this programme onto a single grid, one day per column. Peaks in attendance show up immediately, and the lulls become production windows.
Assessing the available production space
A pavilion on the Croisette rarely has a kitchen worthy of the name. We therefore record the genuinely usable floor space, the water supply points, the contracted electrical power and the cold storage options.
This survey shapes the concept as much as the brand's intention does. An elegant offer that is impossible to produce on site is not a concept, it is a drawing.
Mapping flows and storage
We note separately the flow of guests, that of the teams and that of deliveries. On the Croisette, deliveries take place early and in imposed time slots, which constrains the supply schedule.
Storage is the second critical point, as a pavilion cannot hold several days' worth of goods. We therefore plan daily deliveries rather than a week's reserve.
Writing the culinary concept in the brand's colours
The concept translates a brand platform into kitchen techniques. The exercise consists in finding a common thread that lasts five days without tiring the pavilion's regulars.
This thread is never decorative. It shows in the produce, the cooking and the plating, not in a logo placed on a mousse.
Translating a brand platform onto the plate
A brand that talks about radical simplicity cannot serve seven-component bites. We therefore look for the match between a message and a technique, then we write it down in black and white.
A house devoted to travel will allow spices and citrus used with restraint. A platform focused on craftsmanship will rather call for slow cooking and identifiable raw produce.
The safeguards that prevent gimmicks
Three safeguards always appear in the concept: no colourings, no showpieces made for a photograph, no dish that cannot be served again the next day. A pavilion is not a plating contest.
We add a rule of restraint for conference days, because the audience goes back to their seats after eating. Digestibility is part of the specifications, on the same footing as taste.
Balancing signature and reproducibility
An overly technical signature dish collapses as soon as the brigade changes a team member. We assess each recipe on how it holds up in the hands of a cook who has never made it.
The decision is made in writing, recipe by recipe. Those that fail this test move to the private meetings menu, served in small numbers and under supervision.
June sourcing between Marseille and the Cannes hinterland
The festival takes place in June, when Provence is at its most generous. The menu is written around this window, not from a catalogue available all year round.
Locavore sourcing is part of the consulting, because a concept without an identified supplier remains theoretical. We therefore provide a list of named producers, with volumes and delivery slots.
The June produce written into the specifications
June brings local tomatoes, courgettes and their flowers, early aubergines, horn peppers, Venasque cherries and Luberon apricots. Cavaillon melons arrive at the very end of the month, which makes them a product to confirm rather than promise.
Basil, the first chanterelles and fresh goat's cheese complete this base. Olive oil from the Baux valley and Haute-Provence einkorn provide the regional anchoring that foreign delegations expect.
Suppliers, product sheets and substitutions
Each line on the menu has a main supplier and a back-up supplier. A supply shortage is resolved in an hour when the substitution is already written down, and in half a day when it is not.
The product sheet specifies size grade, origin and delivery method. It avoids discussions at the receiving dock, where nobody has time to negotiate a size grade.
Line-caught fish and the June fish auctions
Red mullet, pandora and dentex are plentiful along the coast in June. We write orders by species rather than by piece, leaving the fish auction to decide according to the morning's catch.
This flexibility comes at a cost in preparation, as the butchery changes with the species. The specifications therefore provide for two cutting options for the same dish, one as fillets, the other as steaks.
Sizing the pavilion's catering formats
A pavilion layers three catering regimes that must be distinguished on paper: continuous hospitality, the programme's highlights and meals for the teams who run the venue. Confusing them overloads the kitchen at the wrong moment and leaves it idle the rest of the time.
These three regimes share neither the same volumes nor the same hours. We described the third in our article on backstage team meals at a brand pavilion, and consulting is first and foremost about not mixing them up.
Continuous hospitality and its throughput
Continuous hospitality means an offer that is permanently available, without a dedicated service. We limit it to three or four items at a time, replenished every two hours.
Throughput is calculated on the attendance announced by the stage managers, not on the pavilion's capacity. A hundred-seat space rarely serves a hundred people in the same minute.
The programme's highlights
A launch, an internal awards ceremony or a client reception change the scale. These highlights require production prepared the day before and a reinforced team for the slot.
We treat them as separate services, each with its own production sheet. The opening cocktail party falls into this category, as we described for the opening of a brand space on the Croisette, and it is prepared several days in advance.
The production rule by time slot
We set a simple rule in the specifications: no hot production starts during a highlight. Everything that is heated is ready before the slot opens, then held or reheated.
This rule frees up the kitchen when the floor needs it most. In return, it requires strict prep discipline from the morning onwards, recorded hour by hour.
The specifications handed to the execution team
The specifications are the document that turns a concept into production. They fit into a binder kept in the kitchen, which any team member can consult during service.
Writing them takes longer than writing the menu itself. Yet they are what determines the quality of the fifth day, when fatigue sets in.
Technical sheets, portion weights and production sequence
Each recipe has a one-page sheet: ingredients, portion weights, equipment, timings and checkpoints. Weights are given per portion, never as totals, to rule out division errors.
The production sequence orders the day's tasks from coldest to hottest. It also indicates what can wait and what cannot, information that urgency always makes people forget.
Service standards and front-of-house protocol
The service standard sets out how to present, clear and follow up. In it we specify the choice between plated service, platter service with the dish presented and sharing platters placed in the centre of the table.
The protocol also covers the details that matter in an international pavilion: the language of welcome, the announcement of the dish and handling special requests without interrupting service.
Allergens and traceability in a transferable document
The binder includes an allergen matrix per recipe, updated with every product substitution. A missing entry is as serious a fault as a cooking error.
Traceability follows the same logic: a filed delivery note and a batch number recorded on the day's sheet. None of this can be improvised on the morning of the first service.
Training and supervising the on-site team
A document alone is never enough. The consulting therefore includes an on-site handover phase, before the pavilion opens its doors.
This phase resembles a short training course, focused on the techniques that matter. It takes place in the kitchen and on the floor, never in a meeting room.
The dress rehearsal the day before
On the eve of the opening, the team produces the entire menu under real conditions. Discrepancies noted that day are corrected the same evening, through a written amendment to the specifications.
The collective learning format we also run, presented in our article on the team cooking workshop for a creative delegation, relies on the same principle of repeated practice. A day of rehearsal avoids having to fix these discrepancies in public, during the first services.
Supervising the first services
We remain present for the first two services, observing rather than working a station. The consultant's role is to watch and take notes, not to take over the stove from the head chef.
Corrections go through the team leader, never directly to the team member. This rule preserves the authority of the person who will run the pavilion in the following days.
What the consulting chef does not do
They do not recruit on the client's behalf, do not sign orders and do not take on responsibility for the service. These boundaries are set out in black and white in the engagement letter.
They rule out the most common confusion, that of consulting drifting into catering. When the brand wants both, we propose a separate execution mission, with its own organisation and its own pop-up brigade.
Measuring, correcting and capitalising during the week
A culinary offer deteriorates without measurement. We therefore put in place a few simple indicators, recorded each day by the pavilion manager.
These indicators are not used to judge the team. They are used to make decisions the next morning, while several days of the festival still remain.
The indicators recorded each day
Three figures are enough: the number of portions served per item, the volume thrown away and the number of special requests. The volume thrown away is the most telling of the three, because it signals a poorly calibrated format.
The record fits on half a page and is filled in at the end of service. After two days, the menu adjusts itself around the items that work.
The debriefing and the knowledge file
On the last day, we lead a one-hour debriefing with the team and the client. Observations are recorded immediately, because they fade as soon as dismantling begins.
The file handed over afterwards sets out the menu served, the discrepancies noted and the decisions taken. It becomes the starting point for the next edition, for the brand and its caterer alike.
What changes from one edition to the next
The pavilion's programme changes every year, and the menu must follow. The concept, however, survives several editions when it has been written from the brand rather than from a trend.
June produce also varies from one year to the next depending on the season. The specifications therefore provide for a review of the sourcing before each edition, without touching the rest.
Summary table of culinary consulting missions
Type of mission | Scope covered | Deliverable provided | Consulting duration |
Culinary audit | programme review and site survey | scoping note | two days |
Concept design | common thread and menu for the week | culinary concept | one week |
Full specifications | technical sheets and named sourcing | production binder | two weeks |
Service standard | front-of-house standards and welcome protocol | service guide | three days |
On-site handover | dress rehearsal and supervision | written amendments | three days |
Capitalisation | debriefing and feedback file | edition file | one day |
The durations shown cover the consulting work alone, excluding travel and excluding execution of the service. They are most often combined into a single mission, spread over the weeks leading up to the festival.
This table serves as a basis for discussion rather than a fixed grid. The scope is decided after the audit, and a personalised quote follows from that assessment.
Illustrative service case
The situation described below is an educational reconstruction, put together from constraints actually encountered. It does not report the words of any identifiable client.
A technology platform sets up a two-storey pavilion on the Croisette for the five days of the festival. The programme announces four conferences a day, private meetings upstairs and a client reception on Wednesday evening.
The production space fits into a back kitchen with no extraction, equipped with a domestic oven and two hobs. The survey therefore requires a menu with no frying and no long oven cooking, built entirely around low-temperature cooking and cold dishes.
The first reconstructed remark from the event director concerns the document. “The binder made the team autonomous from the second day”, and that is exactly what the mission was aiming for.
The second concerns the rehearsal the day before. “We discovered the bottleneck at the service pass before the guests arrived, not during”, which made it possible to move the welcome table two metres.
The third concerns sourcing. “The list of producers saved us from backtracking on Thursday”, when a shortage of courgette flowers was covered by the substitution already planned.
The week's review shows the volume thrown away falling after the second day, on the continuous hospitality items alone. Two of them were removed from the menu and replaced with a cold bite that was quicker to replenish.
Reconstructed remarks, anonymised case. No names, no brands and no real client data appear in this illustration.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between culinary consulting and a private chef service?
Consulting delivers documents and a handover; the service delivers catering carried out by us. The two missions can follow one another, but they are kept distinct in the engagement letter.
When should the mission be launched before the festival?
As early as possible after the pavilion is confirmed, because June sourcing is booked weeks in advance. A late audit reduces the consulting to last-minute adjustments.
Does the consulting chef work with the caterer already chosen by the brand?
Yes, that is the most common and most effective arrangement. The specifications become the common language between the brand and its caterer, which avoids briefing misunderstandings.
What happens if the pavilion has no usable kitchen?
The concept is then built around cold dishes, low-temperature cooking and reheating. An off-site satellite kitchen can also be included in the specifications, with a transport plan.
Does the mission also cover meals for the pavilion teams?
It covers them whenever the client requests it, and we recommend it. A poorly fed team struggles to run a five-day pavilion, and this item is invariably forgotten at the first briefing.
Can the design be entrusted to one chef and the execution to another?
That is precisely the purpose of a consulting mission, and the specifications exist for that reason. The only condition is a genuine on-site handover, without which the document remains a dead letter.
Entrusting your pavilion's culinary consulting during the Lions Festival
Monsieur et Madame designs, documents and hands over event culinary offers from Marseille and across the French Riviera. We work in consulting, in execution or in both capacities, depending on what the audit reveals.
Tell us the dates of the pavilion, the planned programme and the team already chosen. The scope and the quote are decided after the site audit, and the contact page remains the most direct route.
