MILAN – You can’t overestimate the significance of a chair, or so says Enrico Buonocore, the founder and chief govt of Langosteria, the high-end Italian seafood restaurant that’s aiming to turn into a world model.
It’s a week earlier than this Wednesday’s opening of Langosteria’s new flagship restaurant and bar on the higher flooring of Palazzo Fendi within the coronary heart of Milan’s Montenapoleone vogue district and Buonocore is remarkably relaxed. The lights within the elevators want dimming, technicians simply needed to repair the sound system and employees are nonetheless placing the ultimate touches on one of many website’s 4 kitchens. But Buonocore needs to speak chairs.
“This chair is part of the feeling of the brand,” Buonocore mentioned as he factors to his wood chair with a pink and white striped pillow, the identical as dozens of different chairs at close by tables.
He gestures across the restaurant to different design touches, together with the wooden flooring, marble tabletops and the monumental staircase handcrafted to resemble a seashell. He picked these and virtually each element within the restaurant, however for the chair he went a step additional, partnering on the design with Fendi Architectural Studio, the agency that led the restaurant’s buildout.
“Designing a chair is not simple,” mentioned Buonocore. “We tried for six months. The first chair was too big and the second chair was too small. Now it’s perfect.”
Buonocore’s Goldilocks chair epiphany factors to a wider maniacal consideration to element he has employed in constructing Langosteria from one restaurant in Milan, opened in 2007, to a budding worldwide model that added two eateries in Italy’s vogue capital and has additional expanded to the coast close to Portofino, Paris’ Cheval Blanc Hotel and the slopes of Saint Moritz.
In April or May, a Langosteria restaurant is slated to open in London’s Old War Offices Building within the Raffles Hotel. That will likely be adopted in June by one in Porto Cervo on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda, an space frequented by the world’s tremendous yachts, together with these owned by Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, that may deliver the entire to eight.
An opening in Miami has been delayed to no prior to 2029 as a consequence of a change within the developer and the complexity of the general challenge that covers a sq. block and contains the demolition of 1 lodge and the entire refurbishment of two others. Madrid can be coming quickly.
As Langosteria expands its footprint to extra locations frequented by folks prepared to shell out €200 or extra per individual for a meal, Buonocore is striving to get the combination proper between development and the standardisation and economies of scale that make growth interesting to these drafting enterprise plans.
While few very high-end eating places have efficiently scaled – Cipriani for instance – mid-range eating places like Din Tai Fung have perfected a standardised formulation that within the case of the Taiwanese dumpling juggernaut has meant guaranteeing the top quality of the meals even because it approaches 200 areas. But there may be little to tell apart these areas, which is perhaps the purpose.
Buonocore mentioned he has the precise stability between standardisation and native character that has historically dominated high-end eating places. He ensures the eating places have throughlines that tie them collectively – above all the standard of the fish and the straightforward preparation – however are totally different sufficient to verify they provide a distinctive expertise. There is a assortment of dishes that seems in any respect areas, however there are additionally some choices solely accessible in a single location. And that chair, it can finally be the identical throughout many of the eating places, however with totally different colors.
“There are subtle differences so you know you are at Langosteria, but you also know what city you are in,” mentioned Alexander Werz, the chief govt of Karla Otto, the luxurious vogue public relations agency, who has eaten at a number of Langosteria areas and held work occasions there. “What links them is the impeccable seafood and service so if that’s what you are looking for, you know it’s an option.”
Buonocore has constructed relationships over the previous twenty years to ensure he will get prime seafood each day. He has additionally invested in an in-house 45-person company operations group that features groups for building, advertising and marketing, payroll and challenge administration, roles which are typically crammed by exterior consultants at different restaurant teams the scale of Langosteria.
Revenue this 12 months is forecast to rise about 3 % to €65 million, development that’s considerably muted due to a short-term closure and the brand new Palazzo Fendi restaurant opening barely delayed. In 2026, with a full 12 months of the brand new Milan location and contributions from London and Sardinia, Buonocore mentioned income will rise to €75 million. The five-year marketing strategy forecasts income climbing to about €120 million
This 12 months, the group will ebook €7 million in EBITDA, a measure of profitability that strips out some financing prices and taxes. That revenue margin is sharply curtailed by the big company group, which Buonocore says he has cultivated to assist with the rolling out of the brand new openings within the coming years.
“When I speak with colleagues [in the restaurant business] and present my team, people say, ‘you’re crazy, how many people did you say you have?’” mentioned Buonocore. “It’s okay. I’m crazy. But if you don’t have a good corporate team, you’re going to make mistakes. I prefer to go at my speed with the right people. This is my strategy.”
The return on the funding within the massive company group will come now as the brand new eating places open, he mentioned.
Buonocore nonetheless owns 60 % of Langosteria with the remainder held by Archive, the household funding fund managed by Remo Ruffini, Moncler’s chief govt and largest shareholder. Pietro Ruffini, the son of Remo and Archive’s CEO, was a common Langosteria consumer when he approached Buonocore in 2018 about a partnership.
“We believed Langosteria could make the jump from successful local restaurant to global brand,” mentioned Ruffini. “We had a two-hour conversation the first time and from there everything started. We soon realized that we had the same long-term vision for Langosteria.”
Whereas Langosteria’s first Milan restaurant is exterior of the core downtown frequented by vacationers – although it’s in an space that has turn into a magnet for vogue firms with Armani’s headquarters a few blocks away – the brand new restaurant is on Via Montenapoleone, making it a lunch choice for buyers and potential dinner vacation spot for these staying at close by luxurious accommodations.
With decorations within the new restaurant together with framed classic posters, books, small sculptures and items to a youngsters’ soccer desk sport, Buonocore has tried to straddle the road between luxurious and hominess, or perhaps it’s luxurious hominess. That can be proven within the restaurant’s structure that places the principle kitchen within reach of most of the tables.
“In America, London, Paris, a lot of kitchens are in the basement and the food is brought up by elevator; that’s not possible for me,” mentioned Buonocore. “I want to see the eyes of the chef. If my chef is not happy, the food is not happy. This is the reason why I don’t want the kitchen in the basement.”
In creating his luxurious eating expertise, Buonocore has made a few counterintuitive decisions, amongst them the choice to serve meals on this order – antipasto, second, primo. Pasta after the principle dish, sacrilege for the Italian method of conceiving a multi-course meal, has turn into Buonocore’s signature.
“If the main fish arrives after the pasta you don’t respect the fish,” mentioned Buonocore. “I saw so many main courses go in the trash because people couldn’t eat it after the pasta. But you’ll always eat the pasta [even at the end of a meal] because eating pasta makes you happy.”
He squirms when requested to choose the dishes for his very best Langosteria meal – who would have the audacity to ask a dad or mum who their favorite little one is? – however then consents. It goes like this, on this order: his signature tomato soup (a slow-cooked tomato sauce topped with clams), heat from the ocean (heat seafood salad bathed in lemon-infused olive oil), charcoal grilled black grouper with mashed potatoes and pak choi, closing with Breton lobster linguine.
Then he can’t assist himself and suggests he would possibly swap in tuna carpaccio with aubergines for the antipasto and king crab for the principle course.
He has no doubts although in regards to the outsized significance of the chairs, that are being produced within the Brianza furniture-producing district north of Milan. The London restaurant may have the identical chairs, perhaps with a totally different cloth.
“The chair is part of the feeling of the Langosteria brand,” Buonocore mentioned. “It must be perfect. If you want to create something very special, you must control everything.”