Laurent Roland Suaudeau & Vipiteno Gelato & Caffee

Laurent Suaudeau was born in 1957 in Cholet, in the Loire Valley of France. By age 13, he was working in a grocery store prepping French fries and fried chicken in the morning and selling them in the afternoon. At 15, his father got him a job with Chef Yvon Garnier in his local restaurant.  In 1973, he entered Lycée Technique de Guérand culinary school and graduated in 1975, at which time he apprenticed with Great Chef Michel Guérard in Provence.  In 1976, he went on to work under chef Jean Ramet at Le Chapon Fin in Bordeaux for another two years.  

In 1978, he went to work for Great Chef Paul Bocuse at Collonges au Mont d’Or for a year, and then Chef Bocuse sent him to Rio de Janerio to open Restaurant Le Saint Honoré /Paul Bocuse in the Meridien Hotel.  When he complained to Bocuse about not liking Brazil after three months, Bocuse sent him to Japan to open his new restaurant in Tokyo, for a year.  He then returned to the Meridien in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, met his new wife and stayed until 1984, when he moved to New York City to be the chef de cuisine at Restaurant Le Cirque.  In 1986, he and his wife returned to Rio to open his own restaurant, Laurent, which he ran until 1991, accumulating many awards.

In 1991, he moved the restaurant to São Paulo, Brazil and in November of 1999, the Great Chefs television team showed up to tape Chef Suaudeau for the Discovery Channel’s television series, Great Chefs of the World (episode # 229).

In 2000, he closed restaurant Laurent and opened São Paulo’s first culinary school, Escola da Arte Culinaria Laurent Suaudeau.  In 2003-2004 he was awarded the Best Chef of the Year and the Maître Cuisinier de France.  Getting bored with the school alone, in 2008 he opened Vipiteno Gelato & Caffee, the best ice cream shop in all of Brazil, and remains so today, in 2016.