Meet Stephan Laurent | Owner and Co-Founder of Madame Olivia

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephan Laurent and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephan, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
For us, the success of Madame Olivia comes down to three things: creativity, accuracy, and doing everything with love. Creativity guides the way we build our menu, our space, and our experience — we’re always thinking about how to make something familiar feel fresh, beautiful, and meaningful. Accuracy is non-negotiable; from our recipes to our operations, the details matter. It’s what ensures consistency and trust with our guests. And most importantly, everything we make is rooted in love. Love for good ingredients, for honest food, and for the people who walk through our doors. When you combine those three elements, the result is something people can feel the moment they take a bite or step inside.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
At Madame Olivia, what sets us apart is our commitment to excellence and the balance we strike between health and taste. Everything we do is intentional — the ingredients we choose, the way we prepare each dish, the atmosphere we create. I’m most proud of my team, because they bring that vision to life every day. They produce everything in my image, with the same standards of care and craftsmanship that matter deeply to me.

My journey to this point has been built on hard work. Nothing was easy. Like many in this profession, I faced long hours, uncertainty, and moments when the path forward didn’t feel obvious. But I stayed committed to my values and trusted that consistency, discipline, and a genuine love for the craft would carry me through. Those challenges taught me that resilience matters just as much as skill.

What I want people to know about Madame Olivia is simple: we care deeply about community and about promoting a healthier lifestyle through delicious, consciously made food. We want eating out to feel like home — warm, grounded, and inspired by the European way of living. Everything we do is rooted in community wellness and creating food that makes you feel good inside and out. That’s the heart of our story.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One of my first stops would be Porto Vino Miami. It’s homey, intimate, and full of warmth — the kind of place where you can open a great bottle of wine, settle in, and lose track of time.
Another must is Boia De, which is always inspiring from a culinary point of view. The creativity there is contagious, and it’s one of those restaurants that reminds you why you fell in love with food in the first place.
For a great dinner, I’d take them to Sunny’s. It’s a proper steakhouse — classic, confident, and always satisfying. It’s one of my favorite places to unwind over a good meal.
And at some point during the week, we would absolutely end up at my business partner Oren’s house. He makes the best barbecue in Miami, and there’s nothing better than a meal cooked with love in someone’s home. That kind of hospitality is unmatched.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to dedicate my shoutout to my former chef and mentor, Alain Passard. Working under him at his three-Michelin-star restaurant in Paris shaped the way I see food, creativity, and purpose. He was one of the first chefs of his caliber to shift his menu toward a vegetable-driven, almost fully vegan approach, and watching him make that transition with such generosity, curiosity, and conviction left a deep mark on me.

His kindness in the kitchen, his insistence on protecting creativity, and his ability to reinvent himself at the highest level — that’s something I carry with me every day. I always say he’s the Bob Dylan of the kitchen: timeless, poetic, and endlessly original. Any success I have today is built on the lessons I learned from him.

Website: https://madameoliviamiami.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madameoliviamiami/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/st%C3%A9phane-doron-laurent-b9258632/?originalSubdomain=il

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/madame-olivia-north-miami