Real Business Real Lives

Real Business Real Lives


038: How a Healthy Culture Leads to Improved Retention with Yann de Rochefort

April 25, 2019

In today’s episode, you get to hear a discussion between Yann de Rochefort and Aaron Turner from the Beyond Limits Business Salon in New York. Yann, who is the CEO/Founder of Manhattan-based restaurant Boqueria, has cultivated a business atmosphere rooted in a collective understanding of state-of-mind. Not only has this created a culture of accountable and compassionate employees, but it has also played a largely effective role in job satisfaction and employee retention. Yann shares humorous, touching, and impactful moments of how this understanding has changed him as both an entrepreneur and a parent.


Yann de Rochefort is a New York-based restaurateur, husband, father of two boys, and the founder/CEO of Boqueria. Born and raised in France, Yann’s longstanding connection to Spain stems from childhood summers spent exploring Barcelona’s local food markets. Drawn to the city’s warmth and hospitality, Yann returned to Spain as a student, where he expanded both his palate and passion for Spanish food culture. He later moved to NYC to work as a corporate marketing executive before ultimately deciding to “quit his day job” and pursue the opportunity to create something significant. He embraced his entrepreneurial spirit, love affair with Spain, and passion for design in 2006, when he opened Boqueria’s flagship restaurant in NYC’s Flatiron neighborhood. Twelve years later, Boqueria has become an east coast institution, with six locations spread throughout in Washington D.C. and Manhattan.