“It’s a city that gave me everything. For me, who comes from Aveyron, the capital was my American dream.“In 2020, in the newspaper The WorldCyril Lignac confided his love for Paris, part of his incredible rise.
The native of Rodez, in northern Aveyron, who celebrates his 47th birthday this November 5, did his apprenticeship as a chef at the Saint-Joseph hotel high school in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, before joining chef Alain Passard's brigade at L' Arpège in Paris in 2000. In 2005, at the age of just 28, he opened his gourmet restaurant, Le Quinzième in the city of light and made his debut on the show Yes boss! on M6. Since then, Cyril has been chef and/or owner of around ten establishments in France and London, and has participated in around twenty programs on M6. According to the magazine Capital his fortune would exceed 10 million euros.
On the small screen side, with Top Chef, The best pastry chef or Everyone in the kitchenLignac would receive approximately 20,000 euros per month for his services on the channel chaired by David Larramendy, i.e. 250,000 euros per season.
Cyril Lignac's good idea during confinement
On the kitchen side, currently at the head of seven restaurants, six pastries and a chocolate factory, the chef would receive between 50,000 and 100,000 euros for these activities. His other sources of income come from advertising (Amazon, Kiri, Smartbox…), social networks – he has 380,000 followers on Twitter and 3.4 million subscribers on Instagram – and the “consulting” that it provides to restaurants regarding their equipment, the training of their teams, the creation of their menu, etc. “It’s true that other sources of income make life easier when you want to borrow from the bank for example“, smiles the mogul of the kitchens.
But Cyril Lignac's main source of income is quite unexpected. It is in fact with books that the Ruthenian built half of his fortune. Since 2005, the fourteenth favorite personality of the French (according to the annual ranking of Sunday Newspaper) published around forty works many of which became bestsellers. This activity would have brought him between 5 and 10 million euros in total.
Its main cash machine, the collection Homemade, 45 everyday recipes, quick & easy” (edition of La Martinière) was created in 2020 after confinement, during which Cyril delighted the taste buds of viewers. Its eighth volume was published on October 4. These recipes for black rice salad with vegetables and semi-cooked tuna, pan-fried foie gras with cooked wine and fruit or spirals of lasagna with vegetables have sold at two million copies in four years! Six months after its release, the first volume had already sold 358,000 copies, ahead of Léna Situations, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama. The three volumes of Homemade released in 2020 generated more than 11.5 million euros turnover.
The most influential chef in France
No wonder then that the biggest publishing houses (La Martinière, Robert Laffont, Hachette Pratique…) are fighting to count this sales magician in their stable. He would receive a minimum of 50,000 euros for each publication. To which would be added 15% commission on the price of the book. Thanks to all this, according to a ranking established in 2022 by the Advent agency, a specialist in influencer marketing measurement and consulting, he is the most influential chef in France.
So happy Cyril? Not entirely because he regrets having only received one star Guide Michelin in his career, for his address Le Quinzième. “I find that their system is not working properly. Today, we live in a period of transparency, and they don't have any, he confided five years ago to Monde. We work eighteen hours a day, we turn our artichokes hoping that the inspector will like it, we have difficulty with the bills at the end of the month, some chefs take on millions of euros in loans to create a restaurant that they hope will be worth three stars.“
An eternal ambitious
No longer wanting to be in this classification system, Sophie Marceau's ex-boyfriend freed himself from it and devoted himself to his number one priority: making people happy with his cooking. The passion of the man who lost his mother, Janine, in 2014? “Create places, atmospheres, cakes, dishes, look for producers, think about the restaurant of tomorrow.“
This eternally ambitious and young father is also aware that, if his financial performances are remarkable, they place him second in the great tradition of Aveyron bistro and lemonade makers who made their fortune in Paris. The star host of M6 still has a lot to do to catch up with the siblings Jean-Louis and Gilbert Costes, Guy and Christian Tafanel or Pierre and André Richard who have amassed hundreds of millions of euros during their respective careers. Enough to motivate Cyril Lignac for the next fifty years!
