Our Team
About Us
What brings people together? Most often it is a shared passion that is the invisible, invincible thread that bonds friends and colleagues. Sometimes it is sports, sometimes it is intellect, but in the case of Laurent Lesort, Nicolas Barthelemy and Gregory Baratte, the co-founders of Hello Pasta, it is their shared love of eating, drinking and everything else about the restaurant business that cements and informs this tight knit trio.
Laurent, Nicolas and Gregory collectively bring several decades of hospitality and marketing experience to their respective roles as Chief Food Officer, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Hello Pasta. Laurent and Nicolas worked side-by-side in New York City at such celebrated restaurants and lounges as Le Bilboquet, Le Charlot and Opia. Continuing their partnership, Nicolas managed Laurent and his brother Frederick’s uptown hot spot, Frederick’s Lounge and then grew with Laurent and the Frederick’s brand to become its Director of Operations with the opening of Frederick’s Madison. All the while Laurent and Nicolas worked together, Gregory, as the Senior Director of Marketing for Louis Vuitton, was their number one customer and supporter. As the son of French restaurateurs, Gregory grew up in the business with a keen instinct for emerging dining trends.
A strong bond developed between these three charming Frenchmen in New York City. There was an unspoken promise that someday they would merge their collective wisdom and experience to launch a unique and singular hospitality brand. Hello Pasta is equal parts Laurent, Nicolas and Gregory and all about what they love best: delicious food in a vibrant environment.
Our Thanks…
We were obviously not alone building Hello Pasta! We would like to thank the following people for their support, advice, and making the creation of Hello Pasta an extraordinary journey.
Thank you to our Chef, who is simply the best we could have dreamed of. You are also the kindest and funniest human being, and we know how much we owe you…
Thank you Renaud Charrin founder of 099 Factory (http://www.099factory.com/)…you do have 99 ideas by the minutes, and 99 good ones. The branding of Hello Pasta is also your brainchild!
Thank you Antonio Di Orozon, founder of Bluarch (http://www.bluarch.com), you are a fantastic Architect (in fact, we think that you are ‘absolutely’ a ‘genius’).
Many thanks to Jill Sandin, co-founder of JS2 Communications (http://www.js2comm.com), Paula Rosado, founder of PRPR (http://www.paularosadopr.com) and their teams to help us tell the world about Hello Pasta!
Also, thanks to Tom Karagianakis, founder of Argonauts Builders (http://www.argonautbuilders.com) his entire team and our sub-contractors for building our vision on time, on schedule and on quality.
Thank you Didier Huet, founder of Indigo Web Design (http://indigonyc.com/) for designing our website with Renaud, and developing it with such talent, patience, flexibility and reactivity.
Thank you Jason and Neal, and everyone at Sysco (http://www.sysco.com/), it’s simple: we could not have done it without you.
Thank you Antony and Claudia at Salans (http://www.salans.com) for protecting us, all the way.
We also would like to thank our dear friend and controller Frederic Ozanneaux, founder of Ozaneau Consulting (http://www.ozaneaux.com), for being our friend, and an equally great accountant and controller! And also Tom Dunigan, Tod, Fergal, Niko and everyone at Micros (http://www.micros.com/) as well as Philippe Blanchart, founder of PBC consulting (http://www.pbcconsulting.com) for your help setting up our computers and networks, and to Loren at CBRE (http://www.cbre.com) for walking loooooonng hours in the street of New York City and helping us finding the best locations.
Thank you Marco, and Chuck, from Electrolux (http://www.elecrolux.com) you have been one of the toughest critics of our pasta, and we’re grateful, because it pushed us harder in order to reach the amazing quality that we have today!
Thank you David Ramos, our first manager on Lexington Avenue, and Director of Operations for our first locations, and to all our amazing staff for working so hard to make our opening a great success
And thank you to Denise, Laura, Jean, Katie, John, Virginie, Stephan, Clarisse, Alex, Jason, Dudi, Aymeric, Amanda, Puttie, Jeanine, Chris, JC, Emmanuel, Frederick, Mathilde, and all our friends and family who helped and supported us 24/7 for the last few months…
