Léo Deleuze-Lombard

"I can't explain it, I've always loved cooking," says Léo Deleuze-Lombard, who enrolled at the École hôtelière de Thonon-les-Bains and graduated with a BTH in 2009. The young commis then moved to Paris to join Yannick Alléno's brigade at Le Meurice: "Diving into the hustle and bustle of the capital was a real shock for me."But he soon got used to Parisian life, working in a series of palaces: Mandarin Oriental alongside Thierry Marx, Hôtel Raphael with Étienne Barrier, then La Grande Cascade alongside Frédéric Robert: "He taught me everything!"

These diverse experiences gave him wings! In 2016, Léo Deleuze-Lombard flew to New York with his wife Sandra Guergadic. He took up his position at Daniel, but after a year, homesick and with a view to opening their own restaurant, the couple returned to Annecy. "Patrice Le Doré, former sous-chef at La Grande Cascade, had created l'Arômatik' there. I supported him for two years, just to take the temperature."

In 2018, the duo took the plunge and founded Cozna, an audacious challenge hailed by Gault&Millau, which included them in the first edition of 109 - Le Sang neuf de la gastronomie française and rewarded the chef with the Jeune Talent trophy in 2020 and 2 toques from 2023.

B. G.