🤝 Meet Yannick Bigourdan. He's one of Toronto's most prolific restaurateurs and the operator behind buzzy names like The Berczy Tavern, The Carbon Bar, and the Michelin-recognized Lucie, as well as the founder of KLTY Hospitality Consulting. He stepped off the floor to field some questions about how the math of running a restaurant is changing, how he picks a vibe for a new spot, what a Michelin nod does for a restaurant, and some of his best dining experiences.
What has changed most about the restaurant industry since you first got into it?
The romance used to live in the dining room, and the kitchen was hidden away in the back. That has flipped completely. The kitchen is the show now, the chef is the personality, and the dining room is expected to feel effortless and even sometimes invisible. But the change that actually keeps me up at night is the math. When I started, you could build a restaurant around food cost in the high 20s and labour in the mid-20s, and the model worked. Both of those numbers have crept up while the guest, understandably, doesn't want to pay much more than they did a decade ago. So the margin for error has more or less disappeared.
You have a number of restaurants, and they all have a different vibe. What goes into deciding what sort of spot to open? How do you identify an opening in the market?
That's something I often discuss when I collaborate with clients under my consulting practice, KLTY Hospitality Consulting, and this is what I explain: we reverse-engineer the concept from the room. We don't start with an idea and then go hunting for four walls to put it in. We stand in the space, read the street around it, and build the concept the room is asking for. The Berczy Tavern is the clearest example. That room wanted something lively, something with live music, so the piano bar and restaurant idea came straight out of the space itself. The Carbon Bar happened the same way, and so did Pasta Privato. We never designed a concept and then went looking for a room to house it. We let the room tell us what it wants to be, in that specific neighbourhood, for that specific crowd.
When we talk to restaurateurs, we often hear that now is a very challenging time to be in the space. Do you share that view? What are the biggest challenges right now?
I wouldn't say every restaurateur feels that way — many restaurants are at capacity even in this market. Every decade brings its own set of challenges. What has made this stretch hard is the constant bombardment of outside forces we have no control over. COVID, then tariffs, then real pressure on the consumer, who simply has less cash on hand between interest rates, the squeeze on mortgages, and people losing their jobs. That has been a very difficult market to navigate. On top of it, there's a whole layer of operating cost that didn't exist 15 years ago, mostly software, the subscription services we now rely on to run a restaurant, from marketing to purchasing and inventory management and of course the addition of digital ads (don't get me started on this one…). None of that was in the P&L when I started.
There is a conventional wisdom that restaurants are a bad business, but you have obviously made it work. What's the most important factor in your success?
I think restaurants are wrongly accused of being a bad business. It's true that a lot of them close inside the first three years, but that reputation does a disservice to the operators who've shown what's possible. I am certain that this rate of failure is equal, if not greater, in any other entrepreneurial exercise. There are lots of restaurant companies that have become genuinely valuable, some of them publicly traded, plenty of them attracting serious private equity. The beauty of this business is that it carries no receivables. We're paid every night, in full, by the people we serve. Run at a decent margin, it's a wonderful cash-flow business. So yes, it's hard, but no harder than being a good contractor or a good lawyer.
Your restaurant Lucie is in the Michelin Guide. How much does getting Michelin recognition help a business?
It matters, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise. The recognition for Lucie meant a great deal, mostly for the team. There is real pride in it, and it helps when you're recruiting cooks who could work anywhere. What it doesn't do is fill the room on its own, and the moment you start cooking for the guide instead of the guest, you've lost the plot. I treat it as a tailwind, which is lovely to have at your back but dangerous to lean on.
Tell me about the Carbon Snack Bar. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like a spin on a traditional lunch deli, which I can't imagine has had an easy five or six years. How is the business working for you so far?
The Snack Bar was reverse-engineered too, and it's still young — we only opened it in 2025. We actually started with the space at King and Spadina called the Social 460, a wonderful event space with outdoor seating and a liquor licence for over 300 people, and worked backward from there. It struck us as a smart spot for a more casual concept, on a heavy pedestrian stretch of the city with a large number of younger people living and working nearby. So we built something relaxed, with a serious coffee offering and even a bottle shop attached. It's a fun concept, it's growing, and we're excited about it. I'd gently push back on the deli comparison, though. It isn't trying to replace the full downtown lunch. It's a different business entirely.
What's a popular restaurant trend you'd like to see left in the past?
The idea that the restaurant is there to educate the guest. Think back to the early 2000s, when the Food Network was at its peak and suddenly every server was expected to teach you something about your meal. It made sense at the time. It doesn't now. Today's guests are well travelled and genuinely knowledgeable. They've eaten widely and they know what they like. The job isn't to lecture them, it's to host them. That posture of teaching the customer feels dated to me, and a little condescending. I'd happily leave it in the past.
Aside from your own spots, where do you love to eat in Toronto?
For an elevated experience, I love Sammarco, the steakhouse. I think they've done something really extraordinary there. For something more eclectic, Richmond Station is always a great time. And when I want a great cocktail and a bite at the bar, I'll head to Bymark, still one of the iconic downtown rooms.
What's been your most memorable dining experience anywhere in the world?
Without a doubt, Daniel in New York. It's a masterclass in hospitality, with an incredibly curated menu, and I was lucky enough to be hosted by chef Daniel Boulud himself. The whole evening was almost surreal. It's a memory I'll always cherish.
I read in a Toronto Life profile that you're a bourbon fan. What have you replaced bourbon with since it's been off the shelves in Ontario? Or does your profession give you access to back channels?
I'm a big bourbon fan, yes. The interest started about 13 years ago when we opened the Carbon Bar, where the Texas barbecue influence made bourbon a natural fit. I don't drink much, I just genuinely appreciate the quality of it. Saturday night is usually when I'll dip into my personal collection and pour one. And at the Carbon Bar, we still carry a really nice selection.
A glass of wine at lunch on a weekday — yay or nay?
Yes, without hesitation. A glass of white at lunch is part of the culture I come from, where people take the time to actually sit down in the middle of a long working day. There's something to that. A proper break, a glass of wine, something delicious, and you come back to the afternoon reset. A glass of Chablis with that salad? Anyone?
