restaurateur

noun res·tau·ra·teur \ ˌre-stə-rə-ˈtər \

variants: or less commonly restauranteur play \ˌre-stə-ˌrän-ˈtər\

|Updated on: 8 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: restaurateur Has French Roots

Definition of restaurateur

: the operator or proprietor of a restaurant

See restaurateur defined for English-language learners

See restaurateur defined for kids

restaurateur was our Word of the Day on 03/06/2016. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of restaurateur from the Web

This gig follows the restaurateur’s TV debut with Food Network’s Ayesha’s Home Kitchen, which debut in 2016.

— niki mcgloster, Essence.com, "The Quick Read: Issa Rae Wears Belt With N-Word And Roasts Kanye West At CFDA Awards," 5 June 2018
The restaurant, with a long menu of cheesecakes for dessert, was opened by the legendary and flamboyant restaurateur Al Copeland in 2001.

— todd a. price, NOLA.com, "Cheesecake Bistro by Copeland's closes St. Charles Avenue location," 24 May 2018
These are minor snags, but sorting them out is tricky, especially for first-time restaurateurs.

— New York Times, "French Skills Meet Korean Flavors at Soogil in the East Village," 8 May 2018
Caroline Styne of Suzanne Goin's Lucques Group (A.O.C., Lucques, Tavern) took home the award for outstanding restaurateur.

— jenn harris, latimes.com, "Los Angeles chefs once again snubbed at the James Beard Awards," 8 May 2018
Philadelphia cleaned up last year, as Stephen Starr won for best restaurateur, Michael Solomonov won for best chef, and Greg Vernick won for best chef in the mid-Atlantic region.

— michael klein, Philly.com, "James Beard Awards: Live from the red carpet," 7 May 2018
The good news continues to arrive for restaurateur Eli Boyer and his team at Voyager, an oyster-focused seafood restaurant in Ferndale that has been named by Food & Wine magazine as one of its 2018 Restaurants of the Year.

— mark kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, "Voyager in Ferndale makes Food & Wine magazine's list of restaurants of the year," 10 Apr. 2018
This is an ideal situation for any first-time barbecue restaurateur.

— j.c. reid, Houston Chronicle, "Feges BBQ opens in Greenway Plaza food court," 21 Mar. 2018
Wonder what the next brass ring is for Portland restaurateurs?

— michael russell, OregonLive.com, "New Italian-American restaurant coming to longtime Pazzo space with former Renata chef at the helm," 5 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'restaurateur.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

restaurateur Has French Roots

Restaurateur and restaurant were borrowed directly from related French words, and both ultimately derive from the Latin word restaurare ("to restore"). Restaurateur is the older of the two; our earliest evidence dates it to 1793. Restaurant is only slightly newer; it dates to 1806. Of the two words, restaurant is of course significantly more common—a fact that may have influenced the development of the variant spelling restauranteur for restaurateur. Restauranteur first appeared a mere 44 years after restaurateur, but it is considered by many to be an error. It is, however, a standard variant, albeit one that continues to be used less frequently than restaurateur.