A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of the restaurant business.

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The French word restaurateur comes from the Late Latin term restaurator ("restorer") and from the Latin term restaurare.^[1][2][3] The word restaurateur is simply French for a person who owns or runs a restaurant.^[4] The feminine form of the French noun is restauratrice.^[5]

A less common variant spelling restauranteur is formed from the "more familiar" term restaurant^[6] with the French suffix -eur borrowed from restaurateur. It is considered a misspelling by some.^[4][6] The Oxford English Dictionary gives examples of this variant (described as "originally American") going back to 1837.^[7] H. L. Mencken said that in using this form he was using an American, not a French, word.^[8]

• Culinary arts
• Foodservice
• List of restaurateurs
• National Restaurant Association
• Restaurant
• Restaurant management
• The World's 50 Best Restaurants