Paris’ Montorgueil district was gritty back in 2007, but that didn’t deter Olivier Bon, Pierre-Charles Cros, and Romée De Goriainoff. Instead, the young, ambitious childhood pals took a gamble on Rue Saint-Sauveur, brightening it with their speakeasy-style Experimental Cocktail Club.
Temple & Chapon chop house, located in the Hotel Experimental Marais in Paris
As students in Montreal, the trio spent ample time in New York relishing the city’s budding cocktail culture, but when they returned to Paris, they were disappointed to learn “the only cocktails available were the mojito and caipirinha,” recalls De Goriainoff. “So, we thought there was something we could do there.”
Together they scoured locations, looking for a space that would introduce Parisians to quality imbibing in a buzzy atmosphere. “We were about to give up because we were couch surfing, still living like students. But one of the traits of an entrepreneur is you don’t take no for an answer,” says Cros.
Experimental Cocktail Club transformed nightlife in Paris, sparking demand for elevated, imaginative libations. “We saw the scene being created with our own eyes, which was just incredible,” remembers Cros. “Having virtually no previous experience made a lot of people laugh at us originally, but it was our biggest opportunity because we could start with no pre-judgment. We were driven by our customers. Since then, we always conceive everything without forgetting about the customer.”
In 2010, in tandem with Experimental Group’s second outpost in London’s Chinatown, Xavier Padovani, who made a name for himself at spirits producer William Grant & Sons, joined as partner.
And they were just getting started. The brand’s expansion was rapid—shoe designer Christian Louboutin signed on as a shareholder in 2024—and today, it also flaunts bars, restaurants, and hotels beyond France and England to the likes of New York, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.
Eclectic seating at La Compagnie Flatiron, the group’s second wine bar in New York
“The restaurant business is a difficult business to run, and we’ve been pretty good at it. We were quite confident that once we got a hotel, we’d run it well, and we haven’t been wrong,” says De Goriainoff.
Experimental Group’s first hotel, Grand Pigalle Experimental, opened in Paris’ 9th arrondissement in 2015, its design courtesy of longtime collaborator Dorothée Meilichzon, who most recently dreamed up ski-inspired interiors for the Experimental Chalet Val d’Isère in France.
Whether Experimental Group calls upon Meilichzon, Fabrizio Casiraghi (he handled the minimalist Experimental Chalet Verbier), or Tristan Auer, who is behind the recently opened neo-Gothic-informed Hotel Experimental Marais in Paris, each property straddles modern and timeless while emphasizing strong F&B components.
Retro-tinged furnishings and terracotta hues bring a ’70s sensibility to the lobby at the Henrietta Experimental Hotel in London
In the Marais, for example, grand arches, stained glass windows, and bold architecture lines juxtapose a sophisticated cocktail bar and Temple & Chapon restaurant, which reimagines the classic New York chop house with an atmosphere enhanced by rich brown hues and a mix of drawings and photographs.
Up next for the quartet: a hotel in Rome by Parisian architect and designer Rodolphe Parente. This growth is organic, stemming from the friends’ natural instincts and long-cultivated passions. When the first bar made its debut in Paris, for example, “we were free as birds. We were like, if it fails, we’ll go back to square one,” explains Cros.
But the bar was a success, and for the next almost two decades it has been the foundation of the group’s business. “We like innovation and coming up with new concepts, but we’ve also managed to keep the old ones because of our legacy,” De Goriainoff explains. Now those same clientele are following Experimental Group to the next chapter. “[Our customers] grew with us,” he adds.
Original brickwork and parquet flooring were retained at La Compagnie Flatiron
This article originally appeared in HD’s April 2025 issue.
