In his last interview — given only four days before he was found dead with his hunting rifle by his side at his home near Lausanne in Switzerland — Violier appeared in good spirits.
   
But he told the French daily Libération that having three Michelin stars and being named as the best in the world in December by the La Liste classification did not matter to him.
   
“It's all about clients coming back,” he said in the interview published Tuesday.
   
“I hope that it lasts. With 54 employees you have only three months' grace,” he said, referring to the waiting list for a table at his Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in the village of Crissier.
   
“You have always to remain concentrated…
   
“You know people don't come here for the sea views,” Violier joked, referring to his restaurant's less than glamorous setting in a semi-industrial zone near a motorway exit.

Disdain for star system 

He claimed never to have heard of La Liste — set up by the French department of foreign affairs as a counterweight to the British-based World's 50 Best Restaurants guide — until AFP contacted him to tell him he that was top of their ranking.
   
“I didn't want to go to the prize-giving ceremony, I had planned to change my identity card that day,” he told the daily.
   
Such was his personal disdain for awards and the star system around which the world of haute cuisine revolves, that he made little play of his victories on his restaurant's website.
   
Instead, he preferred to highlight the triumphs of his staff, telling Liberation that “in a year and a half they entered 13 competitions and won them all.”
   
Friends and colleagues said Violier may have been affected by the sudden death six months ago of his mentor Philippe Rochat, whom he succeeded at Crissier in 2012.
   
Unlike the top French chef Bernard Loiseau, who killed himself in 2003 after losing a star, Violier appeared to have no financial problems.
   
Business was brisk, with former Spanish king Juan Carlos and ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder among those drawn to sample his signature game and seafood dishes such as turbot with Maltese oranges.

Passion for hunting 

The 44-year-old, whose life-long passion for hunting had led him to write a 1,000-page encyclopaedia of European game birds, said he was even considering putting his rifle away and taking up photography.
   
The book's editor Pierre-Marcel Favre told the paper that “no one understands” why he killed himself.
   
“He was in control, relaxed, serious, had lots of ongoing projects,” he added, doubting that the shooting was an accident.
   
The son of winemakers from western France, he narrowly escaped death as a child when a bottle of sparkling wine blew up in his face.
   
Violier, who had a 12-year-old son and ran the restaurant with his wife, Brigitte, said he was also toying with the idea of expanding his cookery courses.
   
“The starification of our profession has gone too far,” he said.

“Television has made kids believe that in three months you can be a star. But to be a cook it takes
a whole lifetime.”
   
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said late Monday that his death was a major loss for France.
   
“We lose with Benoît Violier an eminent ambassador for French taste and know-how,” he said.

In Switzerland he was equally mourned for his promotion of local chasselas wine and local food.
   
Fellow chef Christian Le Squer, awarded a third Michelin star earlier Monday for his restaurant in Paris' George V hotel, said he was in no mood to celebrate.
   
“The whole gastronomic world is in tears because we lost a great colleague and friend,” he said.