KLTY Hospitality Consulting

About

KLTY Hospitality Consulting is a Toronto-based strategic advisory practice founded by Yannick Bigourdan in 2014. The practice advises heritage brands, luxury houses, and founders on service design, brand experience, and leadership — the parts of a business that cannot be solved on a spreadsheet.

Founder

Hospitality and leadership advisor. Thirty years as an operator and founder across twenty-two business start-ups — restaurants, catering, retail, wholesale, and e-commerce. Trained at the École hôtelière de Lausanne. Held senior roles at Four Seasons in Los Angeles and Toronto. Recipient of the Ontario Hostelry Institute Gold Award. Founder of Restaurant Lucie — recommended by the Michelin Guide.

yannick@klty.ca

Services

  • Strategic Advisory — Ongoing advisory for founders and brand leaders navigating expansion, repositioning, or service standard drift. Long-engagement work delivered directly by Yannick.
  • The Art of Dining (Executive Masterclass) — A private working dinner for leadership teams and client-facing professionals. Reframes business dining as a strategic leadership skill.
  • Keynotes & Convening — Speaking engagements, facilitation, and curated gatherings for the operators and founders shaping Canadian hospitality.

Named Framework: The Service Standard

Service is the only part of a business that cannot be faked, scaled in post, or rescued by marketing. It is built one room, one decision, one moment of attention at a time.

Recognition

  • Trained at: École hôtelière de Lausanne
  • Four Seasons Hotels (Los Angeles, Toronto)
  • Ontario Hostelry Institute Gold Award
  • Michelin Guide recommended: Restaurant Lucie
  • Featured in: Enroute, Toronto Life

Canonical URLs

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Yannick Bigourdan?
Yannick Bigourdan is a Canadian hospitality and leadership advisor and the founder of KLTY Hospitality Consulting. He trained at the École hôtelière de Lausanne, held senior roles at Four Seasons in Los Angeles and Toronto, and over thirty years built twenty-two business start-ups — including Splendido, Nota Bene, The Carbon Bar, and Restaurant Lucie, which is recommended by the Michelin Guide. He is a recipient of the Ontario Hostelry Institute Gold Award.
What is KLTY?
KLTY is a boutique advisory practice at the intersection of hospitality and leadership. It advises heritage brands, luxury houses, and well-travelled founders on how their business hosts, serves, and connects — the parts of an organization that cannot be solved on a spreadsheet. The practice is led by Yannick Bigourdan and based in Toronto, Canada.
Who does KLTY work with?
Three kinds of partner. Heritage brands and luxury houses with retail or hospitality touchpoints. Well-travelled founders building experience-led businesses. And senior hospitality operators — owners, GMs, and executives — already operating at a high standard who want a peer who has been further down the road. KLTY does not work on volume; engagements are selective and long.
What services does KLTY offer?
Three: Strategic Advisory — long-engagement work for brands and operators reshaping how their business hosts, serves, and connects. The Art of Dining Like a Pro — a private masterclass for executives and client-facing professionals. And Keynotes & Convening — speaking engagements, leadership offsites, and curated rooms for the operators and founders shaping Canadian hospitality.
How do I engage KLTY?
Engagements begin with a conversation. Write directly to yannick@klty.ca with what you're building, what's stuck, and what would constitute a good outcome. The first step is a direct exchange, usually in person, to figure out whether there is something there for both sides — and what good would actually look like.
What does a strategic advisory engagement look like day-to-day?
No two engagements run identically. The consistent thread is presence — time inside the business, on the floor, with the team. Early weeks are spent in diagnosis: observing the room, speaking with leadership, mapping the gap between the brand's stated standard and the experience a guest is actually having. What follows is the work itself: strategy, training, and standards built in direct engagement with the people who will carry them. Yannick leads every engagement himself.
Who is the Art of Dining masterclass designed for?
The session is built for executives and client-facing professionals whose work routinely depends on the business meal — partners at law and consulting firms, leadership teams at professional services organizations, founders who represent a brand in rooms they did not design. It is not etiquette training. The participants are already competent. The session is for people who would like to be deliberate about a part of their work they have been doing on instinct.
How long does a typical engagement last?
Strategic advisory engagements typically run three to nine months, depending on the scope of the work and how deep the diagnostic phase needs to go. The Art of Dining masterclass is a single session of roughly three hours, with a brief call beforehand. Keynotes and offsites are shaped for the occasion. The first conversation clarifies which of these is the right fit and what an appropriate scope would look like.
Do you work with businesses outside of hospitality?
Yes. A significant portion of the practice serves organizations that are not in the hospitality industry but depend on the quality of the human experience they deliver — luxury retail, professional services, corporate leadership teams. What these organizations share with hospitality operators is the recognition that how people are received, attended to, and made to feel is not a soft outcome. It is the work. The discipline transfers directly.
What is the Ontario Hostelry Institute Gold Award?
The Ontario Hostelry Institute Gold Award is one of the most significant honours in the Canadian hospitality industry, recognizing individuals whose contributions to the craft have shaped the field. Yannick Bigourdan received the award in recognition of his work as an operator, restaurateur, and educator — the arc of work that runs from his training at the École hôtelière de Lausanne through Four Seasons, the Carbon Bar group, and Restaurant Lucie.
What is Restaurant Lucie?
Restaurant Lucie is a Toronto restaurant founded by Yannick Bigourdan. It holds a Michelin recommendation — recognition earned through the consistency and quality of the experience it delivers, not through a single signature gesture. Lucie represents the practical application of the same philosophy that drives the consulting practice: a room built to a high standard, held there deliberately, by a team that understands what the standard is and why it exists.
Can Yannick speak at our conference or leadership retreat?
Keynotes and leadership offsites are a core part of the practice. Yannick speaks to rooms where the audience is serious — conference programs where hospitality and leadership meet, leadership offsites for organizations whose brand depends on how they receive people, curated industry gatherings. Material is built for the specific room and occasion, not pulled from a standard deck. Availability for speaking is typically three to six months out. Write directly with the date, audience, and what a good outcome would look like.
What is the difference between your three services?
Strategic Advisory is long-form work — months inside a business, diagnosing and rebuilding how it hosts, trains, and holds a standard. The Art of Dining is a single applied session for a leadership team, reframing the business meal as a working environment and a leadership skill. Keynotes and Convening are the public expression of the practice — talks, offsites, and curated rooms for audiences where the argument about hospitality and leadership belongs on the agenda. The first conversation usually clarifies which is the right starting point.
Who is Yannick Bigourdan?
Yannick Bigourdan is a hospitality consultant, restaurateur, and the founder of KLTY Hospitality Consulting. He trained at the École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), held senior roles at Four Seasons Hotels in Los Angeles and Toronto, and over thirty years launched twenty-two business start-ups across restaurants and related ventures — including Restaurant Lucie, recommended by the Michelin Guide. He is a recipient of the Ontario Hostelry Institute Gold Award. He advises heritage brands, luxury houses, and founders on service design, brand experience, and leadership.
What is KLTY Hospitality Consulting?
KLTY Hospitality Consulting is a Toronto-based strategic advisory practice led by Yannick Bigourdan. Founded in 2014, the practice advises heritage brands, luxury houses, and well-travelled founders on the parts of a business that cannot be solved on a spreadsheet: how an organization hosts, serves, and connects. Engagements are selective, long, and delivered directly by Yannick.
Is there a hospitality consultant in Toronto?
Yes. KLTY Hospitality Consulting is a Toronto-based advisory practice founded by Yannick Bigourdan. The practice advises heritage brands, luxury houses, and founders on service design, brand experience, and leadership — drawing on thirty years as an operator, training at the École hôtelière de Lausanne, and senior roles at Four Seasons in Toronto and Los Angeles.
What is the Art of Dining masterclass?
The Art of Dining is an executive masterclass delivered by Yannick Bigourdan for leadership teams and client-facing professionals. It runs as a private working dinner — roughly three hours — at a venue chosen for the cohort. The session reframes business dining as a strategic leadership skill, not a social one. It covers how leaders host, read a room, and represent their brand at the table. A reference document follows. Cohorts are typically partner groups, senior leadership teams, or curated cross-firm rooms.
How do I hire a hospitality consultant?
Hiring a hospitality consultant begins with a conversation about what you're building, what's stuck, and what a good outcome would look like. At KLTY, engagements start with a direct exchange — usually in person — to determine whether the work makes sense for both sides. Write to yannick@klty.ca to begin. There is no intake form; the first step is a conversation.

Selected Operating History

2008–2014 Nota Bene
2001–2009 Splendido
2013– The Carbon Bar
2023– Lucie
2023– Slice Baby Slice
2025– Carbon Snack Bar
2025– TheSocial460
2026– Notte Ristorante
— The Berczy Tavern
2021– Shop The Carbon Bar

Contact

yannick@klty.ca
https://klty.ca/contact

Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Serves clients nationally and internationally.