Our Story - Potel et Chabot

1800

1800 – NE PAS SUPPRIMER CETTE DATE

1820

Jean-François Potel, pastry and rotisserie chef, and Étienne Chabot, Louis- Philippe’s master chef for the duc d’Orléans, form a partnership to open a shop of fresh, luxury foods, first on the rue Montmartre, then at 28 rue Vivienne, a stone’s throw from the Palais-Royal.

1845

A dinner for 450 guests is served at the Bourse for the Chamber of Commerce. It marks the beginning of the large-scale official receptions in Paris for which Potel et Chabot is the main reference with Chevet, the first historic caterer. The two celebrated houses will merge in 1893.

1848

Beginning of the imposing state banquets with a reception for 8,500 guests at the Champ de Mars, at the invitation of the provisional government. Potel et Chabot has the material and organization needed to serve over a thousand tables.

1856

The imperial court of Napoleon III will remain faithful to Potel et Chabot, which organizes its “gastronomic fêtes” and notably the memorable dinner at the Paris city hall for the baptism of the emperor’s son. After the destruction of the palace during the Commune, Potel et Chabot once again will organize the inaugural dinner for the new building in 1882.

1858

Potel et Chabot handles the receptions of fêtes in Cherbourg, heavily covered by the media, where Napoleon III inaugurates the train station and receives Queen Victoria and that Théophile Gautier describes as the first banquet “of the future.”

1884

Start of the Russian adventure: a first dinner offered to the czar at the French embassy is followed in 1896 by a round robin of official banquets lasting several days, given in honor of the Russian imperial couple’s arrival in France.

1900

After the success in 1889of a first banquet bringing together 16,000 mayors, Potel et Chabot organizes the incredible and enormous banquet of the mayors where 22,500 French mayors will lunch in huge tents set up in the Tuileries garden. The press from the whole world hails the house’s performance.

1905

Banquet by subscription for the International Tuberculosis Congress. Large-scale charity banquets, like the famous balls of the Lits Blancs, are frequent throughout the 20th century. A tradition that continues today with fundraising dinners for major causes.

1912

The dinner served onboard a battleship, in Brest, in the momentum of the Franco- Russian alliance, is the first of a series of diplomatic dinners with European and worldwide repercussions. More than ever, Potel et Chabot incarnates the “gastronomic arm” of the state, as much with the Russian and British allies as well as the emperor Wilhelm II and the king of Spain.

1916

The Allied Conference ends with a dinner served by Potel et Chabot, which also handles the first official postwar dinner at the Élysée Palace. Potel et Chabot is the main purveyor of the Republic and will remain so until the Élysée acquires a real kitchen and an official chef.

1920

The house, officially called “Potel et Chabot, Chevet et Gagé réunis,” has undergone a tremendous expansion since the start of the century through the purchase or merger with the best caterers, pastry chefs, ice cream specialists and candy- makers, which will broaden the professions and services proposed to its clients: Charvin, Poiré-Blanche, Rey-Rebattet, Viard- Joséphine… brought together in 1927 under the name “Lunchs et Glaciers.”

1925

1924

A partner of the new industrialists, and especially automakers, Potel et Chabot organizes a first dinner for Peugeot, which will become a genuine institution each year at the Auto Show. Simca, Renault and Citroën will also be faithful to the house, especially for the presentation of new models.

1926

Potel et Chabot opens an elegant tearoom in La Baule, the new seaside resort in fashion. Installation of the house, with its kitchens, at 3 rue de Chaillot, a stone’s throw from the Champs- Élysées and the Eiffel Tower, where Potel and Chabot is still found today.

1931

Potel et Chabot, among others, opens a restaurant of Franco-Asian specialties at the Colonial Exposition. And rolls out a slogan: “Exhibitions end, one after the other, but Potel et Chabot still remains…”

1934

First evening events at the Longchamps race track and dinners for 1,400 guests. It is the beginning of a long collaboration that continues today with prestigious races: Prix d’Amérique, Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane…

1937

Potel et Chabot presents its creations at the Universal Exposition, in a restaurant set up in the Gas Pavilion. Cooking with gas: a daring challenge and an innovation at the period when cooking is done mainly with wood and coal.

1945

The French authorities receive Potel et Chabot in Berlin, occupied by the Allied forces. Supplies are brought in by airlift.

1957

At the Élysée’s request, Potel et Chabot accompany the first official visits of Queen Elizabeth II (1957), Nikita Khrushchev (1960, the first Russian head of state received in Paris since the 1917 revolution), John F. Kennedy (1961), among others.

1960

Opening of the Pavillon d’Armenonville, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. This former hunting lodge, which became a restaurant frequented since 1924 by Marcel Proust and Colette, is the first of six Parisian reception pavilions signed Potel et Chabot. This same year, the house receives the certification of Beth Din for the organization of Kosher receptions.

1961

Opening of the Club Potel- Étoile, on the avenueVictor Hugo, in the 16th arrondissement. The inauguration gathers over 2,500 guests. This restaurant- discothèque will become a mecca of Paris nightlife. Jean Cocteau creates a drawing that will be reproduced on the restaurant’s menus and plates.

1962

Right in the middle of the Cold War, the NATO countries meet in Paris: Potel et Chabot organizes the official dinners. This same year, the house handles the gala evening for the first French release of the film The Longest Day. The house will remain linked to the cinema, with the organization of many premières and prestigious evenings at the Cannes Film Festival…

1966

First of the Grand Siècle prize dinners, all organized by Potel et Chabot. The house has had privileged relations with the champagne houses since 1889: partnerships with the cellar masters of Dom Pérignon and Veuve Cliquot, 200th anniversary celebration of Lanson (2005), Perrier Jouët (2011), the 270th anniversary of Moët et Chandon in New York (2013) and the 150th anniversary of Moët Impérial Brut in 2019.

1969

The Le Bourget Air Show unveils the Concorde and Potel et Chabot collaborate for the first time with the leading worldwide aeronautical event; the house is still its partner as henceforth for the Farnborough and Dubai shows. Another crown jewel of modernism: the inauguration of the RER suburban network in La Défense, at which Potel et Chabot serves 10,000 guests in the basement.

1971

The party of the century: the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire. Working with the restaurant Maxim’s, Potel et Chabot contributes to the success of this event, exceptional through the prestige of its guests – 600 heads of states and crowned heads – and its location – in the midst of the Iranian desert.

1973

With the Pavillon Gabriel, Potel et Chabot brings life back to a mythic venue on the Champs-Élysées: the summer Alcazar, a former café with live music. An ultra-modern recording studio will be built in it, the Studio Potel et Chabot, now Studio Gabriel, which will host Michel Drucker’s TV program, Champs Élysées, from 1983.

1974

Potel et Chabot inaugurates its collaboration with renowned Michelin-starred chefs for the 20th anniversary of Relais et Châteaux, with the chefs Alain Chapel, Georges Blanc and Jacques Lameloise. Partnerships that have multiplied ever since, with several generations of outstanding chefs alongside whom the house creates exceptional gastronomic events.

1980

Potel et Chabot’s first participation in the French Open. It is the start of a long collaboration with the French Tennis Federation, for a tennis tournament that has henceforth incorporated French-style gastronomy into its brand image.

1987

Reviving the republican 1994 tradition, a new mayors banquet brings together on the Reuilly lawn 15,000 guests around the prime minister, Jacques Chirac. This same year, Potel et Chabot organizes the reception for the 40th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel.

1988

Opening of the first restaurant behind the Iron Curtain, in Moscow, on a boat moored on the Moskva River. It is the start of Potel
et Chabot’s strong presence in Russia with the organization of receptions in Saint Petersburg, then, in 1992, the opening of a genuine branch in Moscow and more recently the launches of exhibitions of French luxury flagship brands.

1992

First dinner of the prestigious Biennale des Antiquaires under the cupola of the Grand Palais, an event that Potel et Chabot still organizes today.

1994

Historic inauguration by Queen Elizabeth II and François Mitterrand creation of the tunnel under the English Channel, which changes Europe’s geography: Potel et Chabot sign the official dinner.

1999

The history of the house is inseparable from that of French wines. At Château Latour, the first of the itinerant gala dinners of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés, created by Pierre Gagnaire. Potel et Chabot collaborates on major wine events such as the 150th anniversary of Mouton Rothschild in 2003 and the 150th anniversary of Lafite Rothschild in 2018.

2000

The Michelin gastronomic guide, a genuine international institution, celebrates its 100th anniversary with a dinner organized by Potel et Chabot.

2004

The art of fine living French style imposes itself as a cultural reference in the Gulf countries. A royal wedding in Doha is the first in a series of royal weddings orchestrated by Potel et Chabot in the region.

2008

Dinner for the opening of the Petit Trianon of Versailles after a major renovation. Potel et Chabot is regularly involved in cultural and heritage events such as the dinner for the conservation of Venice at the Orangerie of Versailles in 2001.

2011

To celebrate the inscription of the French gastronomic meal on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Potel et Chabot organizes an exceptional dinner signed by 60 Michelin- starred chefs at the château of Versailles.

2012

Tenth edition of the gala evening of the Fondation AVEC created by Prof. David Khayat and handled since its launch in 2001 by Potel et Chabot. The houses works with many solidarity events: Nez Rouges, Galettes du Cœur, Sidaction…

2014

A major contemporary art event, the inauguration of the daring and light-filled Louis Vuitton Foundation, designed by Frank Gehry, accompanied by by four days of celebrations, with a dinner and three cocktail parties for 3,000 guests.

2015

International Jubilee for Martell cognacs, which celebrates its 300th anniversary at the Orangerie of the château of Versailles. This same year, Hennessy celebrates its 250th anniversary with three exceptional evenings in Cognac.

2016

Dinner for heads of state in Rio, on the occasion of the Olympic Games. The house had already organized the VIP meals at the Albertville Winter Olympics in 1992 and the London Olympic Games in 2012 onboard the three-mast Le Belem.

2018

First private reception organized at the Forbidden City. The house forms a partnership with the Paris Saint-Germain football club.

2019

Opening of the first Potel et Chabot pavilion in China, which marks an important step in its international development. The Potel et Chabot adventure will continue for at least two more centuries.