It is well known that the French are second to none when it comes to cuisine. This includes their capacity for experimentation and innovation, which are essential for keeping culinary traditions alive.
For a chef and a restaurant, the quality of the dishes is not only what counts. One also needs to know how to promote the business, communicate one’s passion for the cuisine, and tell a fascinating and honest story about one’s history in order to create a sense of familiarity and inspire admiration and curiosity.
Yorann Vandriessche, a great chef located on the French Riviera, knows this all too well.
Starting in 1998 in Gruson (Lille), in the north of France, with the La Taverne de l’Arbre tavern, he gained experienced by cooking local dishes and went on to expand his menu, turning the tavern into a restaurant with more sophisticated options at Restaurant l’Arbre.
Over the years, with the help of his wife Bénédicte, the restaurant made a name for itself for its use of seasonal products and its genuine flavors without artifice or frills, carrying on with traditions while being open to new ideas and experimentation.
In his slow journey from regional cuisine to haute cuisine, he brought his historic customers along with him while winning over the appreciation of new ones; and in March 2010, he received a Bib gourmand in the Michelin Guide.
In 2012 his first Michelin star arrived and from that moment on the restaurant took a leap in notoriety. At this point Yorann could have rested on his laurels. Instead, he went in search of new challenges. He sold his restaurant and took a vacation with his wife to look for a new place where he could begin his next adventure.
In 2018 while on a walk in Le Lavandou in southeastern France (department of Varo), the couple identified the spot where they would build their new restaurant from scratch. It would be called l’Arbre au Soleil.
Overlooking the port of Lavandou, with a splendid view, Yorann’s new restaurant offers fish-based cuisine and an exquisite journey through the flavors of the Mediterranean tradition.
The Michelin star was enough to attract the curiosity of travelers and local foodies by word-of-mouth, and the restaurant was an immediate success. However, Yorann is not only a starred-chef, but also an entrepreneur. He realized that his art, like his notoriety, was capable of reaching a larger audience.
This is how the Street ArBre project came about. It was based on the acquisition of two food trucks and the desire to grab the opportunities that street food offers and the possibility of traveling throughout the region.
Haute-cuisine and a high-quality food truck on the road
As in the rest of Europe, the street food sector is also on the rise in France, as it offers many business opportunities and guaranteed advantages.
In fact, food trucks allow one to reach a large pool of potential clients in countless situations, creating high sales volumes and an instant impression.
And not only! Thanks to their mobility, food trucks allow one to reach distant locales and small towns which find it difficult to access these types of offerings. In these places the arrival of a high-quality food truck gets welcomed with enthusiasm and curiosity.
Yorann Vandriessche decided to acquire two very different food trucks, which in some ways complement one another, with the intention of getting the most out of their qualities to bring his cuisine to a larger audience while at the same time advertising his restaurant.
Today a gorgeous NV Food Truck and a fabulous vintage-style Ape V-Curve are mobile extensions of Yorann’s culinary activity in local street-food versions.
Specialized in traveling gastronomy and villa events, the two food trucks offer the starred-chef’s dishes for delivery and in a high-quality catering service. For the residents who find themselves in the local area, it is a proximity deliveries service: etoile street food.
By visiting the gorgeous Medieval hamlet of Bormes Les Mimosas it is possible to see the trucks and appreciate their designs, even before enjoying their products.
It goes without saying that the many tourists which make their way around the town, thanks to the vehicles, get to know the restaurant, creating a virtuous promotional cycle.
They call it street marketing or unconventional marketing, but Yorann’s strategy is essentially an intelligent use of communications and a modern form of promoting his cuisine. Call it, if you wish, StreetArbre.
