Yacht Crew to Global Brand: Luxury Crewwear from the French Riviera - Lu Kenhard

At 18, Lu arrived on the French Riviera with a plane ticket, a job on a yacht in Golfe Juan, and no idea that the industry would shape her entire life. The job lasted 24 hours. The career lasted decades.

After years working as a yacht chef and travelling the world, yachting eventually brought her back to the South of France this time as a mother of twins and unable to return to life on board. What began as casually walking the docks with a suitcase of samples turned into a shop in Antibes, partnerships with international suppliers, and eventually her own uniform designs worn by crew across Europe.

In this episode, we explore what it really takes to build a specialised business in the yachting capital of Europe. Lou shares how she set up a company in France without ever having run a shop before, navigated banks and bureaucracy with limited French, and built her client base from scratch by networking dock by dock.

We talk about:

• the realities of launching a business in France
• the three-year runway every entrepreneur should prepare for
• French social charges and why hiring can stall growth
• the 3–6–9 commercial lease system
• the difference between selling products and understanding an industry from the inside

Lu also opens up about a turning point that forced her to pause and rebuild her company on her own terms, this time slower, more strategic, and entirely her own.

This is a conversation about industry knowledge, patience, reinvention, and why nothing in business happens overnight especially not on the French Riviera.

This is the full-length episode. If you would like to listen to a condensed 28-minute version, it is available on Living the Dream – Radio Edition.

Living the Dream: French Riviera Podcast Women and their professional journey while relocating to the South of France. https://livingthedreampodcast.com