Alain Ducasse says his top restaurants are like high-end fashion: their quality cannot be replicated at scale

While many chefs dream of having a sprawling restaurant empire of the likes of Joël Robuchon, few have ever come close. Monaco's Alain Ducasse, however, is part of that select few. 

Collectively, the chef's restaurants count 20 Michelin stars in total. Between them, Le Louis XV,  Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée and Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée hold nine Michelin stars. His latest restaurant, Morpheus,  in Macau, earned two Michelin stars within six months of opening. 

His thirty-plus restaurants span seven countries including the USA, Japan, Qatar, Lebanon and Mauritius. Yet, the chef, who professes to be highly controlling, likes to have a deep understanding of each of his restaurants. 

In an interview with Agence France-Presse, the chef said he and his team spent three years preparing to launch the Macau restaurant: "I know every object, there was a lot of personal involvement." 

Thoroughly checking the reviews for Benoit, his New York bistro himself, he said, had allowed him to rectify a mistake which he may not have noticed otherwise. 

"It was unbelievable," he said. 

Knowing the efforts required to maintain extremely high-standards has driven new launches a short lurch from his usual fine dining offering, proposing more of a brasserie-style. 

Rejecting the suggestion that he may be trying to bring his food to a wider audience, he said the restaurants bearing his name are where he focuses most of his attention. Like haute-couture, he explained, their quality cannot be mass-produced.

"Each time it requires special creations, it's the same with culinary creations and space." 

"Everything else is pret-a-porter," he said.

Chefs, do you agree or disagree? Is it possible to scale-up quality? Can you name a restaurant which is both prolific and of a very high standard?