Sometimes, as dentists, we feel a bit special—living in a world of our own, where only fellow dentists can truly understand what we go through. But today, while listening to a podcast about Giorgio Locatelli – the famous chef and judge on the latest seasons of MasterChef – I felt like someone outside our world was describing exactly what we face every single day.
Giorgio was born into the kitchen. His parents were already in the restaurant business, and by the age of 7 or 8, he was already spending time behind the scenes in the family restaurant. Later, he trained at the Savoy Hotel in London, then at top Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris. In 1995, he became the chef at Zafferano, but in 2002, at age 38, he opened his first restaurant of his own: Locanda Locatelli, in the heart of London. The Michelin star came a year later.
But what struck me wasn’t the success story. It was the part where Giorgio talks about becoming a patron chef. Not just the chef—the master of the kitchen and the product—but the owner, the one responsible for the entire customer experience. He discovered that the success of a restaurant doesn’t come just from the food, but also from the maître d’, the front desk, the staff dynamics. He learned what it really means to run a business.
To be both an essential operator in the kitchen and the entrepreneur behind the scenes. An artisan—his own word—not an artist. And only later, a businessman. His words hit home because, as the owner of a dental practice, I live that same double role every day: being hands-on in clinical care while also leading the team. Coordinating hygienists, endodontists, assistants. Aligning everyone to the same values. Deciding how to manage complications. So many questions—and they were the same ones Giorgio faced in running his restaurant.
“A great chef is someone who knows what ingredient to remove,” Giorgio said. And it stuck with me. In our world, filled with protocols, checklists, and complexity, the natural instinct is always to add more. But simplifying—paradoxically—is the harder path. Yet it’s the one with the biggest impact on the wellbeing of any business.
I’ve learned more from Giorgio’s story than from many official “commandments” or textbooks. Because Giorgio, before being a chef, is a person who faced, embraced, and tried to resolve the full complexity of his work.
And anyone who owns a dental practice knows exactly what that feels like.
A restaurant.
A dental clinic.
Same game: the owner who works within the business, not just on it.