From Connac to Paris via Toulouse, the Aveyronnaise success story of Patrick Laur
From young waiter to recognized businessman in the restaurant industry, 40 years have passed. The story of an exemplary journey and a meteoric rise.
Child of the countryside, Patrick Laur followed the “classic” route of the young Aveyronnais who goes to the capital to try his luck. The son of farmers – producers of milk for Roquefort cheese – settled in Connac, in the South of Aveyron, he was educated at the village school before joining the Réquista college and then continuing at the Monteil high school in Rodez.
He then entered the hotel school of Mazamet where he prepared his CAP as a waiter. Already, during the weekend, he works extras at the Hostellerie de la Renaissance in Coupiac, not far from the family home. He also made several stops, at the Ferme du Riquet, at Saint-Ferréol in Haute-Garonne, at Île Rousse in Corsica and at the Vigan hotel-restaurant in Albi. The young man is already on the move and the desire to work.
A meteoric rise
CAP in hand, in 1981, Patrick Laur was hired at Coupiac where he stayed for two years before taking up the post of bartender at the Grand Hôtel de Roquefort in 1983. A year later, he was already head waiter in the restaurant which his first star. Ambitious, the Aveyronnais went to Paris in 1986, hired in January at Saint-Jean in Melun (Seine-et-Marne), an establishment run by Mr. and Mrs. Jalbert, originally from Saint-Côme-d’Olt. “The low, he remembers, I was really trained in the Parisian way. On serves on the set, you have to be quick.”
The experiment ends in September 1987: “I wanted to work for the Costes brothers”, he says. He passed through the brasserie of the prestigious Georges V hotel not far from the Champs-Élysées then entered the Café Beaubourg in November, owned by the Costes brothers, in the IVe district, which opened recently. Head of rank, he became director a year and a half later, at the head of a team of 40 employees when he was only 24 years old (!). In 1990, he joined forces with Gilbert Costes at Brise-Miche, opposite the Stravinsky fountain.
“My First Deal”
“It was my first business on my own. Mr. Costes had just brought money. I managed the establishment from A to Z”, emphasizes the young entrepreneur who was then 26 years old. “Later, I sold my shares in Brise-Miche to invest in three other breweries with the director of Café Beaubourg.”
Especially in Les Chimères, rue Saint-Antoine in the IVe. A business that lived and that he made prosper, with a 24/7 opening, theme evenings or karaokes that attracted a large clientele. Turnover is soaring. “I learned a lot of things in the middle of the night”, he notes.
He then opened Le Roi de la Bière in the Saint-Lazare district in 1995. Then created the Sun Café, “a solarium café-restaurant sold to the Guetta couple in the early 2000s”. He joins forces with a Basque friend for Le Petit Baïona. Business is booming and multiplying, with takeovers and resales, investments, transformations, creations…
Le Bon Café, Place de la République in the XIe borough. And of course the Aveyron touch at the restaurant En Attendant l’Or, in the XIewhere truffade, aligot… and other local products are served with entertainment around the accordion every Thursday evening.
Give employees a chance
At the L’Artiste café, bought in 2011 and sold a few years later, he trained an employee – Cemo – who then became his partner in this establishment. Because like the Jalbert family or the Costes brothers trusted the young Aveyronnais who moved to Paris, Patrick Laur wants to give hardworking and competent employees a chance.
Thus in 2013, the businessman joined forces again with Cemo, supported by his brothers, in the hotel-restaurant Le Cozy, place Courteline in the 12the borough. An establishment which is moving upmarket and which now boasts three stars, with its 22 rooms, its brasserie and its large terrace. Just opposite, Patrick Laur takes over Le Jango, a pizzeria that uses 100% French products, run by the same Cemo.
The same year, Le Certa – rue de l’Isly, in the 8th arrondissement, joined the group of the entrepreneur who joined forces this time with Aymeric Assié, an Aveyronnais who had started at Les Chimères then had chained to En Attendant l’Or . Always a matter of surrounding yourself with people you trust and who have proven that they “want some”.
Business takeovers continue, in Paris, often with partners: La Favorite in March 2020, rue de Turbigo in the 3rd arrondissement, Le Petit L’Or, in August 2020, rue de la Pompe in the 16the…
In January 2022, Patrick Laur invested in Marcel-André, a restaurant in Tournefeuille, in the Toulouse region, which he entrusted to Fabien Pouget and Brice Courrèges, from La Primaube. Two more former members of En Attendant l’Or, who wanted to develop a business near Toulouse. City where Les Chimères (formerly La Cantina) was bought from rugby player William Servat, now managed by Manon Laur, Patrick’s daughter, associated with his niece Émilie Bonneviale, Bruno Pohier (trained in Paris) and Manon Terrier, who studied at L’Artiste and (again) En Attendant l’Or, which turns out to be a very good “school”. “I like to motivate my troops by giving them new challenges, confirm the contractor. Those who cling, I associate them.”
“Every time is different”
Today, at 58 and at the head of seven businesses – five in Paris and two in the Toulouse region – and soon an eighth, Le Félibre in Sceaux, in the Hauts-de-Seine, Patrick Laur is still just as motivated. : “What I like is to take establishments that don’t work and put them back together. Seek financing from banks, canvass brewers, suppliers. Each time, it’s different”, he rejoices.
In 40 years of business, the one who took over at the bottom of the ladder to become today a recognized entrepreneur, manages his establishments on a daily basis. “In Paris, I go around my business every day, on a scooter. And I’m available 24/7 to answer my associates.” Associates who often were trained on the job: “The advantage of taking young people who are not in the business is that they bring my way of working and adapt it to their generation. And I’m there for the managers if they don’t take the right way”, he explains. This is the Laur method. Method that seems to work in view of many businesses that the Aveyronnais has been able to make prosper. And the story is not over…
Experienced petanque player
In Paris, very busy with his business, Patrick Laur nevertheless found time to play rugby, notably with the corporate teams of the capital’s merchants, from the beginning of the 1990s until 2004.
But his real passion is pétanque, which he has been playing since his youth and which will take on another dimension at the end of the 2000s when he takes part in major competitions. He is even Paris champion in triplet promotion in 2018 and league champion.
In 2006, the local child created the Réquista triplet competition. And did very well for the first edition since he brought in Philippe Suchaud, 13 times world champion. And for 16 years, this meeting still attracts as much since last August it brought together 150 triplets including many champions. “All the big names in petanque”supports Patrick Laur.