Anne‑Sophie Pic, the journey of an acclaimed French chef

Building on the family legacy 

Anne-Sophie Pic was, in many ways, born to be a great chef. Her father, Jacques, was a three-Michelin-starred chef, as was her grandfather André. 

And yet, when she was a child growing up above her father’s celebrated restaurant in the Rhône Valley, southern France, she dreamed of something else: being a fashion designer. The young Anne-Sophie later studied business, and travelled throughout the US and Asia until her early twenties.

When she returned to Valence in France, in 1992, to learn and work alongside her father, there were no indications that she would become what she is today: one of the most accoladed female chefs in the world. She currently holds a total of eight Michelin stars, including three stars at the Maison Pic flagship, and was the first recipient of the Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef award in 2011.

Her journey, however, was quickly tainted by tragedy. Her father died suddenly just a few months after Anne-Sophie returned, before she had the chance to spend meaningful time learning from him in the kitchen; she now describes herself as “a self-taught chef”. Maison Pic lost its third Michelin star following Jacques’s death, leaving Anne-Sophie with a formidable task.

Determined to build back the family legacy, she and her husband, David Sinapian, took over the restaurant in 1997. She says she drew on her instincts, her intuition – and her memories. “I grew up in the world of cooking from a young age. I remember the whirlwind of service like an enchanting ballet. I absorbed the scents emanating from the kitchens and created an imaginary world around the countless flavours. My father educated my palate, and I carry the richness of that transmission within me.”

Regaining the Michelin star: a career turning-point

She regained the restaurant’s coveted third star in 2007, making Anne-Sophie one of the world’s most celebrated chefs and the only female chef in France to receive a three-star rating in 50 years. It also marked a turning point in her career, she says, giving her the confidence and freedom to expand her culinary empire. “I was proud, happy and, of course, relieved. But rather than an ending, it was a beginning for me. It meant that I could continue carving my own path.”

Her path, she describes, has been formed by a combination of her family’s formidable heritage and her desire to create a legacy and style of her own – in particular, weaving influences from her travels in Asia.

“As the daughter and granddaughter of chefs,” says Anne-Sophie, “I have been naturally marked by this universe… and, as a self-taught chef, I started my career guided only by my intuition and emotions to imagine my first dishes. My heritage remains a solid foundation, but I enjoy nourishing it with new influences and discoveries.” This openness has become central to her philosophy of ‘Suffusion’ – a way of letting flavours and sensations gently intermingle, creating harmony that feels both rooted and ever-evolving.

It is a powerful philosophy that has been enabled by an essential partnership with her husband, who runs the business and strategy side of her flourishing restaurant group. This now numbers five Michelin-starred restaurants in locations ranging from Paris to Dubai, and a Relais & Châteaux hotel in her hometown of Valence, where Maison Pic is based.

She also took to heart one of the most important lessons from her father: “Experience cannot be transmitted; one must have their own experiences and learn from both failures and successes.”

Anne-Sophie’s fame emerged in an era when chefs have come out of the kitchen, metaphorically, and are media stars in their own right. As well as appearing on television as a judge, she launched a long-term collaboration with Dior at the end of 2023, opening three Café Dior by Anne-Sophie Pic sites in Asia.

Forging a path in a male-dominated industry

As a female chef in what has always been a male-dominated culinary world, she says she has seen positive change in the past decades – but there is still much more to do. “Thirty years ago, the industry was very closed off. There were very few women in kitchens, and female chefs were even more underrepresented. When I took over the Maison Pic restaurant, I felt a form of doubt and guilt. I felt as if I didn’t have the right to be here, that I needed to blend into the brigade. It wasn’t easy to feel legitimate as a woman and a self-taught chef.” 

She takes pride in the fact that she carved her own path to the top of her industry by “pushing boundaries, being curious and constantly seeking new culinary emotions with my teams”. Although, she adds, that women’s work in the culinary sector is still not sufficiently recognised by male chefs.

And what of her childhood dream to be a fashion designer? “Today, in the kitchen, I am not designing dresses but aromatic fabrics. Gastronomy and haute couture share the same love for aesthetics and an attention to detail,” she says – a kinship also reflected in her ongoing collaboration with Dior.

For Anne-Sophie, her unexpected career has taught her that the most important elements of success are the “ability to take on challenges, to venture into the unknown, and to maintain the freshness of thought that allows for change and revolution”.