The singular journey of a peasant leader
Trained at Blois hotel school, star chef Christophe Hay grew up on the family farm north of Loir-et-Cher. Kid, he was fishing in the Loire. A river from which he found the shores and the fish, after passing in large houses in Orlando and Paris. In 2014, he opened a first address in Montlivant. Then, back to Blois in 2022, where he created Fleur de Loire, a Relais & Châteaux hotel with gourmet tables, pastry kiosk, spa and vegetable garden. For him, « the life project ».
This is the effervescence in Fleur de Loire's pastry shop in Blois. And because: this is the presentation to the press of the Christmas logs, cakes of the Kings and other breads to decorate the holiday tables at the end of the year. Original creations where local products are in the spotlight. Starting with the Loire pear – « Guyot and the Conference of Mrs. Sévin » – the almonds of Pithiviers or the tagette of the garden of the doubly starred chef Christophe Hay, who opened Fleur de Loire in 2022. Another curiosity: for the Epiphany of this year 2026, the establishment offers a galette des Rois prepared with black truffle melanosporum of Loire, whose production is due to the chef, owner – since 2019 of a truffle in Mont-près-Chambord. There, he harvests the precious mushrooms himself, assisted by his bitch Vickie, a Labrador female who also gave her name to the cake concocted by the talented Jean-Louis Chiericato, at the command of the bakery booth.
Other members of Christophe Hay's close watch include: Suzanne Vannier, sub-cheffe and winner of the 2024 edition of the La Cuisine Durable contest, Baptiste Ingouf, executive chef, Clément Réauté, pastry chef and French dessert champion 2025, or Franck Collas, baker chef, best apprentice of France in 1992 and three times finalist of the Coupe du monde de panettone. Beautiful world for « the life project » : it is in these terms that Christophe Hay speaks of Fleur de Loire, « whose work began in the heart of Covid... »
« I moved from the status of canker, to college, to the status of first class in the hotel school. »
When he traces his course, Christophe Hay begins by evoking the course of the Loire. Or rather of « its » Loire. The river along which this native of Vendôme grew up, played, did the four hundred blows, but also fished and started his first steps in the kitchen. The day he obtained his college certificate, he received a positive response to join Blois' hotel school. « I opened the envelope on the hood of the 2CV Charleston of my father », remembers Christophe Hay. The memory is alive. Intact, full of emotion. As for the 2CV, it is sheltered in the chef's garage. He still serves it and the bishonne is like a treasure. « Blois welcomed and that's where it all started. I moved from the status of canker, to college, to the status of first class in the hotel school. », he says. Just graduated, he will then join Eric Reithler's brigade, « my spiritual father », in the restaurant Au Rendez-vous des Pêchers, « then the only starry table in Blois in the mid-1990s. » A former grocery store for Liberian sailors, now a school of excellence and requirement, which propels Christophe Hay in 2002 « at Monsieur Paul's ». Paul Bocuse, friend of Eric Reithler, is looking for a chef for his Bistro de Paris in Orlando. « I had a week to join – or not – his teams in Florida. I said yes 30 seconds! » An American escape that will last 5 years, followed by 7 years in Paris, first behind the stoves of the Hotel de Sers, then to supervise also the kitchens of Edward VII and Bel-Ami.
The Loire, « a wild river that goes up and down »Like the sea...
« My life is made up of encounters and opportunities », says Christophe Hay.
If the Bocuse adventure is one, Montlivault's adventure allows him to leave the banks of the Seine to find the banks of the Loire. A well-known field, where he won a bunch of fishing competitions, when he was a teenager, congratulated by Jack Lang, then mayor of Blois. This Loire, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for 25 years, is part of its « living cultural landscapes ». This Loire again, whose bed is only sand and pebbly. So much so that we bathe in it. We also cross beavers, sogrets, cranes, ducks, geese, herons, grebes... The starred chef talks about a « wild river, rising and descending »Like the sea. This passion for the Loire therefore prompted him, in 2014, to open his first restaurant, The House next door, in Montlivault, with the river close by. Montlivault: 1,307 inhabitants. For some, the end of the world. For Christophe Hay, the opportunity to work fresh water fish, have a vegetable garden, pick herbs and flowers in nature. Result: when he prepares the mule of Loire, he marines him with poppy... Michelin inspectors love it. The chef won a first star in 2015, a second in 2018. It's the click. Christophe Hay wants to go further. Progress. He wants to move, but he doesn't want to get away from his favourite land. We're talking about Cheverny. His answer: « Too far from the Loire... » Again. Always her. A Kenyan investor then proposes to transform a former building, designed by Gaston d'Orléans – son of Henri IV and Marie de Medici – into a hospital and then a hospice, into a five-star hotel with 40 rooms, with gourmet tables, pastry and Sisley spa. All on the left bank of Blois, along the banks of the Loire, facing the royal castle. « In the word hospice, I saw the word hospitality», says Christophe Hay. So much so that he says banco and embarks with him, as early as June 2022, a team of 110 people – they are 150 today – at the end of colossal work to revive, in the rules of art, this imposing building XVIIe which extends over some 5000 m2.
A sense of commitment
« I'm a peasant chef. » This is how Christophe Hay defines himself. And this, not only in reference to the family farm, located north of the Loir-et-Cher, which has been transmitted for 5 generations. Son of a butcher, he himself acquired, in 2018, a herd of about 60 Wagyu oxen – « There are 120 today » One of the best meats in the world. « Farmers » Also because it has a vegetable garden of one and a half hectares to 500 meters from Fleur de Loire, in the heart of Blois, where it cultivates fruits and vegetables, while developing a conservatory of l'asperge and another dedicated to apple. As for the greenhouse that he installed near his two blésoise gourmet tables – named Christophe Hay and White Love – it is home to about 40 varieties of citrus fruits, ranging from maxima cedrat to caviar lemon and Japanese yuzu. « Farmers »Finally, when he talks about permaculture, « fertile land » and others « living soils ». « My best associates, said Christophe Hay, are the little worms and the dark ones. » Not to mention, of course, its teams and the many local suppliers and producers. Sylvain Arnoult is one of them: he fishes silts, pike, carp or eels in a boat on the Loire, of which he operates 25 kilometers of banks.
Christophe Hay's peasant sensitivity also adds a sense of commitment. For the short circuit, the sustainable, the reasoned, the hunting of food waste. But also for a multitude of good causes. The chef de Fleur de Loire not only participates in actions in school canteens, but he also supports the Restos du Coeur du Loiret, the association Adel Centre à Tours – which helps children with leukemia or cancer – or Les Bouffons de la Cuisine, an association founded and chaired by the star chef Michel Trama, who works for isolated people in difficulty. « Every year, in January, I also receive, for two days, some fifteen young people from the Inspired by KM (Kylian Mbappé) association, to make them live the Fleur de Loire experience, from the vegetable garden to the kitchen, with one night in our hotel and the visit of the castle of Blois. »
Entrepreneur in the soul
« The pace is steady », admits Christophe Hay. And this is as much as Fleur de Loire attracts travelers, eaters, curious people, both from Paris, Tours or Orléans, as from the United States, South America or Taiwan. « Clients enjoy staying at home, quiet. Flower of Loire, it is a cocoon in a city of human size, where nothing has been denatured », detail the Liechtenstein chief. It also recalls the proximity of Chambord, Cheverny, Amboise... which can be reached by bicycle, following the route from La Loire to Vélo. Entrepreneur in the soul and even though his agenda often displays complete, Christophe Hay continues to listen, watch, and sniff out opportunities. That's how he associated himself with Chief Loïs Bee – appointed « Big of tomorrow » by Gault & Millau 2026 – in the restaurant The Table – 1 Michelin star – in Ardon, Loiret. It was also in this same dynamic that he visited, in 2024, the premises of an old shoe shop, Place du Martroi, in Orléans, to open, the following year, Le Kiosque, a XXL version of Blois' pastry shop. A successful bet « after major work, an investment of EUR 1.5 million and the recruitment of 15 employees », says Christophe Hay.
A successful bet « after major work, an investment of EUR 1.5 million and the recruitment of 15 employees », says Christophe Hay. Nothing stops. Banks and insurers follow him. « I want to continue to value Blois and Orléans, two cities that are close to my heart, and connect them », he explains. So he mutualizes knowledge and know-how from one kiosk to another. An example: « Bread leaves every morning from Blois to Orléans. » The Chief also ensures the development of « places of life », « creating mix », position the pastry as a « sweet little pleasure »with a cookie « hazelnuts and salt flower » 3.50 euros or a chocolate flash for 4 euros... Finally, another nod to the richness of the territory: the presence of Duralex glasses, made in the eponymous manufacture of La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, and plates from the Faïencerie de Gien, at the Orléan Kiosque and at the bar, in the rooms and tea salon of Fleur de Loire.
Traveller
In search of new flavours, Christophe Hay is also a travel chef. He takes advantage of promoting his homes abroad to taste a cocoa in Peru or drink tejate in Mexico, and then inspires for recipes. « Every time I travel this type, I leave for a week with a team member to share my discoveries. », explains the one who wants to « Human ». Finally, when we talk about a race to a 3e Michelin star, Christophe Hay does not march.
« Such a reward would be an opportunity to continue to evolve Fleur de Loire, to thank the Centre-Val de Loire region for its support and to bring the Loir-et-Cher where I was born, this department where I am home! »
Anne Eveillard
Culinary Review n°959 January-February 2026
