Can you tell us a bit about your background, which led to the creation of Bagelstein 10 years ago?

In life, I've set myself the principle of realizing my dreams. The first was to go into financial auditing, so as to discover many different sectors and countries. For ten years, I had the time of my life all over the world, in Singapore, Nouméa, San Francisco, London, Paris... Then I decided to make my second dream come true: to manage my youth soccer club, Racing Club de Strasbourg. I remember spending the first week pinching myself every ten minutes. But sometimes, dreams are better left as dreams. For me, coming from a background of financial orthodoxy, this environment was too far removed from my values.

So I turned to my third dream: entrepreneurship. I started off half-heartedly by buying shares in a company selling electric radiators to private individuals. But I don't like lukewarm water and felt it was time to create my own concept. In 2004, my partner and I opened our first sushi restaurant, with no paradigms or barriers. On the conveyor belt were sushi and yakitori, but also scallops sautéed in popcorn, caramelized chicken in coca, praline mille-feuilles... However, when we wanted to duplicate the concept, we came up against the addiction of sushi chefs. That's how Bagelstein was born, with centralized production so as not to depend on anyone at the point of sale. We tried lots of recipes, but I wasn't satisfied. So I knocked on the doors of New York bagel makers. One of them took me on as an intern for two months. Bagels were his whole life, and there was no way he was going to let someone on the other side of the world do them wrong! I corrected what was wrong and we opened our first boutique in Strasbourg in January 2011.

What lessons have you learned from your previous experiences?

These experiences have given me an enormous amount. Soccer taught me that you shouldn't confuse your passions with your work and, above all, that you should never give up on your values. With what I call "half-entrepreneurship", I realized that I needed to burn myself out. Like running a marathon, which I've done 18 times in my life, I need to push my limits.

The big difference between salaried employment and entrepreneurship is the amplitude of emotions.
The victories are even greater because they are the fruit of our own risks and reflections
and the failures are even greater, because we alone are responsible for them.

What personal resources do you draw on to drive your projects forward and exercise leadership?

I'm very grateful to our employees. I sincerely feel that they are doing us a favor by choosing to join us. This responsibility to the people we hire is my compass. Some time after we launched Bagelstein, a young man came to see us. He loved our concept and had just resigned from his fast-food job to come and work with us. He said, "You'll pay me when you can. Such an entrepreneurial risk is extraordinary! He's still here, he's grown up with us. In fact, when I'm recruiting, I tend to put the state of mind before the degree. What interests me is what candidates will do with their skills.

Self-confidence and self-esteem are very important. If, through my contribution, I can enable them to get their foot in the door and believe in themselves, I'll have achieved something. What a satisfaction it is to give our employees the opportunity to explode professionally!

I also rely on the two pillars of Bagelstein. The first is an impertinent, borderline, itchy state of mind, which has enabled us to make the brand known at breakneck speed. For example, for the Bac, we offered bottles of water with cheat sheets on them. We also did hidden cameras with a Youtubeur. The second is that we make everything ourselves, without preservatives, in our production centers, even though we'd make more money if we subcontracted.

Is it possible to remain impertinent in an increasingly politically correct age?

Things have changed a lot in ten years. We foresaw this in 2013. For a store opening, we put up a sticker: "If Bagelstein opens on Avenue Marceau, I'll come back without my parents. Leonarda", which earned us an outpouring of hatred on social networks, calls for boycotts, demonstrations... We thought it was the end. Fortunately, a wave of support quickly followed.

It's become very complicated to speak out these days. Even on trivial subjects like our Reunion-inspired bagel last September, for which we were accused of cultural appropriation! There's no question of abandoning our tone, but we're narrowing the range of subjects on which we express ourselves: no sex, no religion, no politics.

What are your current projects and challenges in this difficult environment for the restaurant business?

We generate half our sales from takeaways and half from on-site sales. So we've been hit hard, especially since the curfew. The situation is made all the more complex by the fact that we manufacture everything. So the first challenge is to still be there every morning. This is vital for our employees, especially the students, who are particularly hard hit by the period.

Secondly, the challenge is to continue to promote the brand. Since December 1, we have opened 5 stores in France, and we are working on plans to open stores in Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. We are also constantly challenging ourselves. For example, our stores are evolving with a concept similar to COJEAN or PRET-A-MANGER, in order to respond to customer impulses and increase throughput. Our bagels, prepared the same morning, are now offered in refrigerated display cases, then reheated at checkout in a special oven. The bagel is hot and crisp, but the filling remains cold - a real challenge, as there was no question of sacrificing quality.

What message would you like to send to future leaders and entrepreneurs?

Whether you're a student, a young manager or an entrepreneur, the first thing to do is identify your dreams. That means taking a blank sheet of paper and writing down what you want, with your history, values and personality. I'm convinced that once you've done that, you'll have the means to get there. When I give courses, I often say:

"Don't get involved, there's no point, you might as well stay in bed. Get involved!" The difference between involvement and commitment is bacon and eggs. The chicken gets involved, the pig commits.
My advice: be ready to give your life for your causes and your dreams!