Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivier Rizk.
Olivier, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I would say this started off when I was about two years old going to my uncle’s French bakery here in south Florida called Delices de France which is open till today (25 years strong). I would be at the bakery every week dipping my fingers in the chocolate eclairs that were in the pastry showcase, eating the freshly baked croissants, Baguettes and etc.
I never physically worked there I was too young at the time but I would always be around watching the bakers bake bread, the pastry chef making beautiful cakes.
Growing up, I never knew exactly what I wanted to, I just knew I would open my own business one day. As I finished high school, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in life. So I took a year off to work for my parents until I figured out what I wanted in life. During that time, I would constantly think what can I do, what do I love. At the time, I used to DJ throughout high school and I thought let me go to school to learn how to produce music.
Thought about it for a few months and I realized that I wasn’t passionate enough to pursue a career in that industry. So I kept thinking and one day my mom proposed to me why not look into baking and pastry. I always loved going to the bakery. So I thought to myself lets give it a shot.
I applied to Le cordon bleu here in Miami just because I wanted to stay near home and have a part-time job at my uncle’s bakery to get experience at the same time. During my two year program, I went to the bakery after school about five times a week. At the time, I would learn how to put butter in the croissant dough.
Since it was my uncle’s bakery, the type of training that I was exposed to was something I wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere. My uncle set up a program for me that allowed me to work in every department. So for the three years I spent there I worked the viennoiserie station, pastry station, bread station, barista station, sandwich station, and I also got to work the counter (which taught me a lot about customer service and how important that is in the food and beverage industry).
After those three years, I thought I was ready to go on my own and open my own business and of course that every young adolescent always thinks they can do anything at a young age and my uncle didn’t stop me even though I wasn’t ready. So I started to plan on opening a wholesale bread business in Haiti which is where I grew up half my life. Few months into planning I moved back to Haiti to get started. I was in Haiti for one month and I had to travel back to Miami to get the rest of my belongings. While I was in Miami, I had to make one quick stop to visit my girlfriend at the time that was living in NY for college. During my stay in NY, I met up with my cousin that was in the city. She took me around Manhattan showing me the bakery’s in the city. I remember the first stop was Dominique Ansel which btw is an amazing pastry shop in SOHO. At the end of the day, my cousin said to me “Olivier, you have to come to NYC to work”. For the rest of my trip, her words stuck in my head.
The day I got back to Miami, I called my uncle to see to if he can put me in contact with his friend Eric Kayser who has bakeries all over the world. Luckily for me, he told me that I should go to NYC because his best Head Baker Yann Ledoux works in NY and I can learn a lot from him. The same day I called Yann looking for an opportunity to further my experience in my field. He asked me when can I come for a trial. Needless to say, I had just got back to Miami so I told him ill be in Nyc in about 3 to 4 days. I packed two bags as if I was moving, I was determined to get the job and I was confident that I would nail the trial.
As I got to NYC, I called him and said, “I’m here” he replied, “perfect, meet me at our flagship location in the Upper East Side at 6am”. I went to the trail was a bit nervous but at the same time, I sucked it up and walked in with confidence. I did the trial and after he offered me a position as a baker at $12 dollars and hour. I know the pay was low but I took it because I wanted to learn from the best. I quickly moved up the ranks from baker to sous-chef in train, to sous-chef, then after two years of hard work and dedication, I became a head baker at our Columbus Circle location. I spent about a year working the store from managing our store production as well as a few wholesale clients. I got the opportunity to make bread for some top restaurants in NYC especially one in particular Le Bernardin which is a 3 Michelin star restaurant.
After that year, my Chef Yann Ledoux offered me to help them expand the business to Washington, DC. in early 2018. I had the task to open two bakeries in the matter of a month in terms of training staff and getting everything set up. I spent two months that I worked everyday to make sure things were going smoothly. I would say after four months, that’s when I started going in and out between DC and NYC working at all our 18 locations at the time.
In 2019 Maison Kayser was nominated to participate in a Best Baguette competition in NYC. My chef gave me the opportunity to participate in the competition with him. We had three days of to prep for this and with the same recipe that we use at all our locations but finding the best method to get the perfect baguette. I can tell you I didn’t sleep for two nights to make sure I get the best results possible for the competition. During the competition, I was a nervous seeing some beautiful baguettes from the other 12 bakeries we were up against. I can tell you those two sleepless nights were worth it because we won best baguette in NYC for Maison Kayser. I can’t describe the feeling of winning my first ever competition as a chef especially in NYC where you have some of the best chefs from around the world. https://frenchly.us/maison-kayser-wins-grand-prize-best-baguette-2019/
Mid 2019, I decided to part ways to move back to my home town of Miami in search of opening my own bakery to bring some of the best French baked products back home. It took me one year from planning everything and searching for the perfect location. Now I’m proud to announce that Ficelle Boulangerie & Patisserie will be coming to the Newest development called River Landing on the Miami River. I expect to open sometime between early to mid-2021.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It wasn’t a smooth road. Especially in NYC, my biggest struggle was trying to get to the top always pushing harder than my coworkers which were talented bakers and chef from France and other parts of the world but I can say working with all of them is what shaped me to be who I am today. I tried to learn from everybody even if you were a good baker/chef or a horrible baker/chef you can learn a little bit of something from everyone.
I can’t forget the struggle of adapting to the cold haha.
Please tell us about Ficelle Boulangerie & Patisserie.
Well, the business isn’t established yet we just finalized the lease but we will specialize in all sorts of French pastry, desserts and of course my award-winning bread. What might set me apart from other traditional French bakery, I’m trying to bring a more modern vibe to the French bakery name but still keeping the artisanal feel. I will also have a little coffee bar style station which I think is pretty unique which I don’t think I’ve seen in a French bakery before.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Honestly, I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently, if I made mistakes during my journey as a chef I’m glad to have made them because you can only learn from these mistakes and not making mistakes in life that’s a problem because that’s the only way you can evolve and learn from them.
Image Credit:
Only one picture wasn’t taken by us is the French morning best baguette picture.
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