Most of us will have experienced a personal loss, the loss of a parent or family member. The pain can be raw and overwhelming. They say time heals or does it just dull the pain? But there can be nothing worse than losing a child, one that you nurtured all your life. The grief must be unimaginable.
This happened earlier this year in May to the chef of the Pavyllon Monte Carlo, Yannick Alléno. Sadly, none of us are sheltered from life’s tragedies and our hearts must go out to Yannick who has been so cruelly chosen to live through this terrible trial in his family’s life.
The Tragedy
Last May, Antoine Alléno, the younger son of three star Michelin chef Yannick Alléno, was run over in the middle of the night in Paris by a drunk driver without a license at the wheel of a stolen car … the perpetrator of this horrendous accident is reported to be a notorious delinquent. Antoine Alléno who was only 24 years old died on the spot … a young and promising life cut short. His companion Anissa was also injured that day, but mercifully her life has been saved.
The driver is reported to have been charged with homicide and aggravated intentional injuries and being detained awaiting trial.
Many would be crushed, paralysed by emotion and unable to act. But Yanick and his wife Isabelle are determined to help spare others. Theirs is a passionate will to not sit idly by while others suffer the violence of losing a child.
Association Antoine Alleno formed to Spare Others
For the Alleno family the experience of the tragedy is still fresh, the discovery of a mind-blowing inescapable world full of dehumanizing bureaucracy around tragic accidents from the journey to the hospital to the handling of the remains of the victim.
Distress and loneliness for the family, cold and multiple procedures that can only give rise to more pain and anger. Someone needs to guide and help the families so they can concentrate on their grief.
Thus was born the Antoine Alléno association, which aims to give families a voice and put an end to the anonymity of young accident victims, classified as miscellaneous and quickly forgotten. Because that’s what the Alléno family felt. Helped by his double role as chef and entrepreneur, Yannick Alléno is reported as wanting to spend the rest of his life cooking but also protecting young people.
The association wants to imagine solutions to answer questions related to bereavement. How to react ? How to notify relatives? How to find solutions so that young people are no longer victims of acts of violence? The association will be made up of three “colleges”: a college of scholars, a college of businesses and a college of young people, to listen to them and be inspired by their ideas.
If you wish to help with a donation or learn more about the Association you can visit their website.
In Memory of Antoine Alleno
Antoine Alléno is the son of Isabelle Mescam-Alléno and Yannick Alléno. Passionate about cooking since childhood, Antoine followed in his father’s footsteps. After studying at the René-Auffray hotel school and at the Ferrandi Paris school, he began as a clerk at the Cheval Blanc, then continued his career as a demi-chef at the Pavillon Ledoyen. He left to hone his skills with Frédéric Anton at the Jules Verne as chef de partie (line chef).
Antoine decided to join his father in 2021: together they opened the restaurant Burger Père & Fils in Paris. In the kitchen as in life, Antoine knew that alone it is possible to go quickly, but that alongside a united and committed collective we always go further.
Antoine Alléno was taken from his family on May 8, 2022 at the age of 24, fatally hit on his way out of work by a repeat offender, fleeing at the wheel of a stolen car.
A discreet little enclave in the 7th arrondissement, in which the restaurant “Pères & Fils” is nestled, will be renamed in tribute to Antoine Alléno, a great son, with his name on the walls.
