{"id":27360,"date":"2026-07-25T15:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/non-categorise\/cyril-lignac-behind-the-ice-cream\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T15:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:10:54","slug":"cyril-lignac-behind-the-ice-cream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/portrait\/cyril-lignac-behind-the-ice-cream\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyril Lignac, Behind the Ice Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the third time I’ve found myself facing Cy<\/strong>ril <\/strong>Lignac<\/b><\/a>. The first time was when he earned his first Michelin star. The second was during the expansion of his restaurants. This time, it\u2019s in Saint-Tropez, to mark the opening of his first shop entirely dedicated to ice cream creations. <\/p>\n

\"Cyril
Chef Cyril Lignac \u00a9Yann Deret<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No Compromises<\/h2>\n

The years go by. So do the projects. But there\u2019s something about Cyril Lignac that seems not to have changed. He\u2019s remained the same: approachable, curious, and generous\u2014a man who talks more about work than success, more about doubts than certainties. <\/p>\n

Officially, our interview was supposed to focus on ice cream. And it did. We talked about the selection of fruits, seasonality, and that sorbet that contains 56% fruit because, in his words, \u201cyou don\u2019t fight with a plastic knife.\u201d A statement that ultimately sums up his entire approach to his work: never compromise when it comes to quality. <\/p>\n

\"Ice
Cyril Lignac’s Glac\u00e9 shop in Saint-Tropez \u00a9Sylvain Costa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vacation Memories<\/h2>\n

But very quickly, the conversation took a different turn. Toward his roots. Toward that mother who would save a few bills, carefully hidden away, to treat her children to a week\u2019s vacation. The one who promised them ice cream every evening on their way out of the campground. Even today, amid the tourists lining up outside his shop in Saint-Tropez, that memory is never far away. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make ice cream that everyone can afford,\u201d he tells me. This isn\u2019t some line crafted by a horde of public relations people. You can tell that right away. For Cyril Lignac, indulging in good food isn\u2019t a luxury. It\u2019s also a pleasure for everyone. A childhood memory. An emotion he wants to share. <\/p>\n

\"{%ALT_TEXT%}\"
{%CAPTION%}<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Experience<\/h2>\n

What struck me most, perhaps, is that after a career spanning more than thirty years\u2014with restaurants, pastry shops, books, television shows, and nearly two hundred employees\u2014the chef and pastry chef still has doubts. He admits to fearing he\u2019ll mess up. He fears the project won\u2019t work out. He fears he won\u2019t measure up. \u201cIf one day I go home telling myself that I\u2019m bound to succeed, that\u2019s when I\u2019ll lose,\u201d he sums up. That statement may explain part of his journey. <\/p>\n

He repeatedly emphasizes that there\u2019s one thing money can\u2019t buy: experience. Everything else requires time, hard work, and constant self-reflection. Even when a restaurant has been in business for ten years, you have to know how to keep it evolving, because customers change, too. I also rediscovered what had struck me during our first meeting years ago: that almost disarming gratitude. <\/p>\n

\"Cyril
An icy fragrance by Cyril Lignac \u00a9Geraldine Martens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The game goes on”<\/h2>\n

When I point out to him that people love him because he gives so much, he replies, almost sheepishly, that so many people work just as hard as he does without receiving that same affection in return. He\u2019s thinking of his sister, who works in a hospital. Of his mother. All those who work behind the scenes. And perhaps that is the secret of Cyril Lignac: he has never forgotten where he came from. <\/p>\n

At the end of our interview, I asked him if he was proud of how far he\u2019d come. His answer surprised me. He told me he\u2019d take stock later\u2014on the day he finally takes off his backpack. Not now. Because, in his own words, \u201cthe game goes on.\u201d An opportunity to meet him again. As I was leaving, I thought to myself that this ice cream shop was ultimately less about a new entrepreneurial venture and more about a certain way of looking at life. Keep moving forward. Keep questioning. Keep working. And above all, keep bringing joy to others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the ice cream of his childhood to the lines outside his new shop in Saint-Tropez, the chef recounts a journey built on hard work, gratitude, and a simple conviction: success has value only when it remains accessible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Cyril Lignac, Behind the Ice Cream | Restaurant Saint-Tropez | Edouard Amoiel","description":"From the ice cream of his childhood to the lines outside his new shop in Saint-Tropez, the chef recounts a journey built on hard work, gratitude, and a simple c"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_restaurants-par-lieux":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_style-de-restaurant":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358],"tags":[],"restaurants-par-lieux":[398],"style-de-restaurant":[],"class_list":["post-27360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portrait","restaurants-par-lieux-saint-tropez"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27360"},{"taxonomy":"restaurants-par-lieux","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restaurants-par-lieux?post=27360"},{"taxonomy":"style-de-restaurant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/style-de-restaurant?post=27360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}