About Me

Or why I keep working in hospitality — despite everything.

Some people work in hospitality out of passion, some for money, and some because they couldn’t find anything better. As for me, I ended up here by accident — and stayed out of stubbornness. Or maybe because of a strange kind of secular faith: the kind that makes you believe that truly welcoming someone still matters, even in the age of QR codes, chatbots, and “immersive experiences” sold at 90 euros per head.

My name is Antonio Chiconi. I’m not a guru, I don’t wear slim-fit suits, and I don’t speak in aphorisms. I work. I observe. I fix. I listen. I’ve been a waiter, a maître, a consultant. I’ve opened venues, ended collaborations, trained people, made mistakes. I know what happens on the floor when a customer walks in with a bad attitude, when the POS crashes, when the chef wakes up grumpier than usual. And I know what it means to create something from scratch, when the idea is stronger than the fear.

I believe true hospitality is made of attention, pace, humanity, and craft. And that a fancy uniform or a chalkboard with “burrata” written on it doesn’t make a restaurant. It takes vision, method, and a good dose of irony. Because without irony, in this line of work, you either burn out — or open a franchise.

Mister Godfrey isn’t a brand. It’s not a character either. It’s just a name — a convenient one — to say that my consulting always starts with people, not manuals. I won’t sell you a dream. But maybe, together, we can turn an idea into something solid. And maybe even beautiful.

👉 Does any of this sound familiar?
Are you opening a new venue, working on an idea, or just need to talk to someone who won’t judge you (but will judge everything else)? Write to me. No auto-generated quotes. Just real conversations.

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