Chef Christian Le Squer from France tours Immokalee for culinary project

A renowned chef from France started his tour of the Culinary Accelerator in Immokalee with a smile and a loud "Bon jour!"

Christian Le Squer, the three-star Michelin chef who runs Le Cinq restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris and who recently was named the 2016 Chef of the Year in France, visited Southwest Florida on Friday to promote the economic development project. It's hoped the project will bring opportunities for local farmers and small-business owners to expand their food-related businesses.

Through a partnership involving a few local organizations, the project will provide a test kitchen with 5,274 square feet of space and a mentorship program for local entrepreneurs, according to plans.

Members of the Culinary Accelerator will participate in a contest in which an entrepreneur will be identified and mentored by the three-star chef.

More: Immokalee lands Michelin-rated French chef Christian Le Squer

Jennifer Pellechio, chief operating officer of the Naples Accelerator, said the project will be membership-driven — local farmers and entrepreneurs will rent time at the Accelerator facilities and use the kitchen to develop their products.

“You could be an entrepreneur who needs an hour, two hours in our kitchen,” she said. “That would make you part of our team.”

The test kitchen is under construction and none of the equipment – cabinets, coolers, ovens – have made it to the facility. The kitchen is expected to open in June.

But Friday morning, Le Squer looked through the blueprints, shook hands with the construction team and asked many questions through his translator.

The chef seemed concerned about the storage rooms in the facility and the size of the kitchen. At one point, the translator said, “The chef thinks it’s small.”

Marshall Goodman, president and CEO of the Accelerator, was quick to respond that the building will grow by adding a storage room and a second facility of about 40,000 square feet. The addition is pending state approval.

“We have 2.8 million in front of the Legislature right now in the Florida Senate,” Goodman said. “That would allow us to start expanding to full-scale production.”

Goodman has a vision for the project that started when he first saw the potential of preparing people from Immokalee for the job market.

When Goodman grew up, he was very moved by the 1960 classic documentary “The Harvest of Shame,” in which Edward R. Murrow explored the hardships and life of the American farm worker.

“It’s been 57 years, we’ve sent people to the moon, and yet Immokalee looks exactly like it did in 1960,” Goodman said. “A new generation can bring new ideas to finally move this community to a different level.”

Goodman recognizes that Immokalee is one of the places that needs these kinds of projects the most, but there’s also a great number of entrepreneurs and farmers who have great ideas or products. However, they often don’t have the facilities or equipment needed to take their businesses to the next level.

“We are building a world-class facility, putting incredible high-tech equipment into that facility, and now we are starting to assemble a team, call it a faculty, of brainpower, of chefs, people who understand production and distribution," he said.

Le Squer brings the famous “technique” of French cuisine to the “faculty” team, but he doesn’t want to change the products or the ideas of local entrepreneurs.

Le Squer said he doesn’t want to change the way local entrepreneurs do things, but he hopes to show his style and technique. He first wants to understand what project participants want to do and then help in any way.

“I don’t want to change the community,” he said in French. “I want to learn from the community and bring my taste, my ideas and culture. You need to live in the community if you want to change it.”

A possible second member of the faculty team would be chef Art Smith, who has been contacted by the Naples Accelerator.

“The French are very good at technique,” Goodman said about Le Squer, “but Art Smith brings Florida; he knows the current taste of Florida, he is Southern cooking.”

The program still must confirm Smith’s participation in the project.

The visit was meant to help Le Squer identify some of the ways he can help the program succeed.

He had plans to extend his visit Saturday to the Third Street South Farmers Market in Naples and the Greater Naples YMCA.