Pierre Abi Hayla on Chocolate and Humility

Pierre Abi Hayla was born and raised in Lebanon by an Armenian mother and a Lebanese father. As a kid, pastry and chocolate were Pierre's only desired food, and he eventually turned his passion for these desserts into a successful career.

"I was hyperactive and not into school when I was a kid. My family is into food; Armenians love food, and Lebanese do. So I didn't even look into any other food, just pastries," remembers Pierre, hinting that he would naturally become a chef. It wasn't an easy path to set on with his family short of financial means, but they were supportive and risked everything to make Pierre's dreams come true. 

Pierre is a descendent of 1915 genocide survivors perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. And like most Armenians, his family had to start from scratch. And even generations later, his family had to make sacrifices to help Pierre study and start a life that would eventually create a healthy financial environment for him and his future. 

Pierre's mother realized early that a standard school curriculum would never interest her son. So his mother enrolled him in the École Technique Saint Joseph school in Bhersaf when he was 14 and proceeded to study pastry for three years.

Pierre started an internship at the InterContinental Le Vendôme hotel in Beirut. "I didn't have a car. So my Armenian grandmother, who didn't have much money, bought me an old Fiat," Pierre says. If it weren't for the $5-600 dollar car, he would have spent three hours on public transportation, rendering his internship impossible. 

The hotel offered to send Pierre to France for training. He went to an École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie and studied chocolate-making at the Lenôtre school.

"After I went back to Lebanon, the hotel offered me [the lead chef position]," he says, astonished that he was the youngest to occupy such an important position. "Before, [the position] was only filled by foreign chefs or people with 15 years of experience."

It wasn't long after, at the age of 28, that he decided to start his own business. The risk for Pierre was high as his family offered their house as collateral for his starting loan. "We know the value of money because we didn't have much growing up, and now we have a healthy financial situation. [The bank] gave me a little less than I asked for and I [only] finished paying three years ago."

Le Noir, situated 35 minutes from Beirut, is a well-known spot in the town of Broummana in Lebanon. Le Noir is an ode to refined, luxurious chocolate produced with premium-quality ingredients, and it is about to enter the online market in Dubai. 

Both from his humble beginnings and experience on a global scale, Pierre has learned that humility and hard work are critical to his success, especially after one loss in particular. "I used to win local competitions for three years in a row. Then in 2016, I participated in the European Cup of Pastry. I went in with no preparation, and it wasn't good. My ego made me feel that I would win all competitions, but in Geneva, I failed badly. I came in second from last. I returned to Lebanon very upset, and there I realized that I must humble myself and my work," muses Pierre. But after what seemed then to him a fiasco, he received a call from Valrhona, a French premium chocolate manufacturer. They asked him to participate in an Easter chocolate competition and create a chocolate egg. "I won that competition. I was in shock, at a loss for words. That was the turning point."

He started to receive requests from different countries to consult on business openings. So he opened another restaurant and bar, Flint, with his brothers and friends in the mountains of Lebanon. "We took a 140-year-old building. We didn't want to spend much money, so we did all the renovations ourselves, down to the tables. This July, we will be opening another Flint in the center of Athens," says Pierre. 

Currently, Pierre now owns a few businesses expanding to Europe and Dubai. He is also consulting with prestigious hotels in the Middle East and finalizing a deal to open an online shop franchise of Le Noir in Dubai. 

Pierre has come a long way and says that's primarily due to his Armenian heritage. "I'm super proud of my Armenian heritage; my Armenian blood is powerful. My mother and her family were hardworking people. They migrated during the Genocide from Urfa. First to Syria and eventually to Lebanon." But does he have plans to expand to Armenia? "I have to come to Armenia during summers to check out the environment, and maybe I can open a nice bar; it's a lot," said Pierre, adding, "Armenians love to live."