A pioneer of the cafe scene had died.
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Pierre Lecomte had no experience in hospitality when he first arrived in Tasmania, but the restaurant which carries his name has been around for more than 60 years.
The Frenchman arrived in Launceston in the early 1950s to offer engineering expertise on the Trevallyn hydro-electric tunnel.
Born in Normandy in 1921, Mr Lecomte studied his craft in Paris and was summoned to Germany to work during World War II.
In Tasmania he met his future wife Helen.
Mrs Lecomte, who was born in Launceston, said Mr Lecomte was very charming and had been “a wonderful husband”.
“He was very handsome, very tall and very dark, everybody thought he was pretty good, I can tell you, and he was 15 years older,” she said.
In 1956 the pair decided to open Tasmania’s first brasserie cafe, after purchasing one of the very first Italian espresso machines to come to Australia.
“In those days with engineering and his company they had to tender for jobs, and they could be anywhere in Australia or New Zealand, and the job finished in Launceston and he was offered a job in the Snowy River,” Mrs Lecomte said.
“When that particular contract finished he would have been in the same boat again.
“But at the time espresso coffee was very new so we thought ‘why don’t we start this in Launceston’ and then he won’t have to worry about contracting another job.”
When Pierre’s celebrated six decades of service in 2016, Mr Lecomte told The Examiner he could still remember the opening day.
“I was dressed in a grey suit, with a tie and my girlfriend [Helen] in those days was very well dressed too,” he said.
“And we opened the door, and people could not believe it, they thought ‘who is this guy with his tie’.”
There was no fear or trepidation about being one of the pioneers of the cafe scene in Australia, Mrs Lecomte said.
“It wasn’t daunting in the sense that if you really don’t know what you are doing, you don’t see the pitfalls that could be there,” she said.
“We never thought for a minute that we wouldn't succeed because we were innocent. You couldn't do it now, but in those days we were the second of our kind in Australia.”
He had a very good sense of humour, he always made us laugh and sometimes his accent was still so thick even we couldn't understand him.
- Dominique Ranicar, Pierre's daughter
While Pierre’s had a number of operators through the years, the Lecomte’s kept ownership of the building and business until 2007 when it was bought by the Birchmore family.
“There wasn’t a day that went past when I was at the helm of Pierre’s when someone didn’t walk in and have a close connection to the restaurant or to Pierre,” Rohan Birchmore said.
“From making comments about someone's mother or father who worked for Pierre and Helen or ‘I remember their chocolate royals’ or something that stuck in their minds.”
Mr Birchmore said Pierre’s did not just set up the coffee scene in Launceston, but was part of instigating the whole coffee scene in Australia.
“Whenever Pierre came back into the restaurant, which was up until his final weeks, he would have his fish and chips and a glass of chardonnay, and he was the proudest customer we ever had,” Mr Birchmore said.
Mr Lecomte’s only child, Dominique Ranicar, said her father was very proud of the business and spent a lot of time going in for coffee after it was sold.
“He was quiet, dad, but he was a real gentleman,” she said.
“He had a very good sense of humour, he always made us laugh and sometimes his accent was still so thick even we couldn't understand him.”
His favourite spot was Low Head, where he enjoyed spending time on the water sailing or driving around in his American Jeep.
Mr Lecomte was also one to be up-to-date on events happening across the world.
But overall, he loved Tasmania and “was very proud to be Australian”.
Mr Lecomte died on November 27.
Family and friends are invited to a service for Mr Lecomte on December 4 at the C.T. Finey Centre, Nunamina Avenue, Kings Meadows at 3pm.