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When two culinary powerhouses join forces, the food and beverage industry takes notice. Chef Olivia Ostrow, the creative visionary behind Miami’s acclaimed Maison Ostrow, and globally renowned restaurateur Todd English have officially partnered to launch French English: a first-of-its-kind international kosher brand that’s poised to reshape modern hospitality as we know it.
This isn’t just another restaurant collaboration. It’s a chef-driven platform designed to take kosher cuisine from niche to mainstream luxury, proving once and for all that dietary traditions and world-class dining can coexist beautifully on the same plate.
A Partnership Years in the Making
The collaboration between Ostrow and English didn’t happen overnight. The two chefs have admired each other’s work for years, watching from their respective corners of the culinary world as they each pushed boundaries in their own way.
“Todd and I have known each other for years; with mutual respect and mutual curiosity,” says Chef Olivia Ostrow. “I’ve always admired how he built a global culinary brand, and he was intrigued by what I was doing in Miami with modern, elevated, actually-sexy kosher cuisine. At some point, it just clicked: why hasn’t anyone created a chef-driven, international kosher brand with global credibility? That’s what we’re building.”
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English, the mastermind behind iconic concepts like Olives and Figs, brings decades of experience building globally recognized culinary brands. His operational expertise and extensive network across hotels, resorts, airports, and hospitality groups provide the infrastructure needed to scale Ostrow’s refined vision internationally.
“Todd isn’t just guest-starring, he’s coming in to amplify what we’ve built,” Ostrow shares. “We’re mixing our culinary DNA. He brings reach, talent, and operational muscle to help turn one great kosher brasserie in Miami into a group.”
What Makes French English Different
French English represents a bold new category in the food and beverage industry: one that refuses to compromise on either kosher integrity or culinary excellence. The brand blends Ostrow’s refined French-Mediterranean kosher sensibility with English’s bold, globally recognized culinary style.
The approach is intentionally accessible. Menus are rooted in French technique and organization while remaining approachable and globally fluent. Think hors d’oeuvres, entrées, plats, and sharing plates: all designed to feel refined but never stuffy.
“We want people to stop saying, ‘for kosher, it’s good.’ We want kosher to finally sit confidently at the big table,” Ostrow explains.
The debut menu at their December 18th launch event showcased this philosophy perfectly, featuring dishes like:
- Duck shawarma
- Merguez ravioli
- Caramelized Dover sole
- Maison Baguette
These aren’t dishes that apologize for their kosher status. They’re dishes that celebrate it while competing head-to-head with the finest non-kosher establishments in the world.
Miami: The Flagship and Creative Hub
Maison Ostrow in Miami serves as the flagship location, creative hub, and test kitchen for the French English brand. It’s here that Ostrow: recently named Best Chef in Miami: has spent years perfecting her approach to elevated kosher dining.
The first collaborative French English dinner and press event took place on December 18, 2025, with all proceeds benefiting Sharsheret, the national nonprofit dedicated to supporting Jewish women and families facing breast and ovarian cancer.
This charitable component reflects Ostrow’s broader philosophy about what hospitality can and should be: a force for community connection and positive change, not just profit margins.
For hospitality professionals watching the food and beverage trends landscape, French English represents an important case study in how brands can build purpose into their DNA from day one.
Ambitious Global Expansion Plans
The French English rollout doesn’t stop in Miami. Under Ostrow Cuisine: Ostrow’s licensing and intellectual-property company that fully owns and operates the brand: expansion plans span multiple continents.
United States
New York City is the immediate priority, with plans for a French English kosher brasserie and potential hotel or members’ club collaborations. Additional U.S. locations under consideration include Beverly Hills, Chicago, and Las Vegas, with Disney partnerships also on the radar.
International Markets
The team is actively exploring opportunities in Tel Aviv for a seasonal or hotel-attached concept, as well as high-end kosher-compliant dining projects in Dubai and the broader Gulf region tied to major hospitality groups and global events. Paris and London are on the horizon once the U.S. foundation is firmly established.
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Beyond Traditional Restaurants
French English isn’t limiting itself to brick-and-mortar locations. Pop-ups, festival appearances, luxury catering, and special events will extend the brand beyond traditional restaurant walls, allowing the concept to live across multiple formats while maintaining a consistent culinary and design identity.
This multi-format approach mirrors successful strategies we’ve seen from other hospitality industry leaders who understand that today’s diners expect brands to meet them wherever they are.
The Nobu Comparison: Making Kosher Global
Ostrow doesn’t shy away from ambitious comparisons when discussing French English’s potential.
“If Nobu could make Japanese luxury global, French English can make kosher global,” she states confidently.
It’s a bold claim, but not an unreasonable one. Nobu transformed perceptions of Japanese cuisine from exotic specialty to mainstream luxury over several decades. French English is positioning itself to do the same for kosher dining: a market that has long been underserved by chef-driven, design-forward concepts.
“For years, I’ve been proving that kosher can be refined, modern, and sexy,” Ostrow adds. “Partnering with Todd lets us take that message from Miami to the world. French English isn’t about passports: it’s about two culinary worlds meeting on kosher ground.”
What This Means for the Hospitality Industry
For food and beverage professionals, French English offers several important lessons about where the industry is heading:
- Dietary restrictions as opportunity, not limitation: The kosher market represents significant untapped potential for operators willing to invest in quality and authenticity.
- Strategic partnerships accelerate growth: By combining Ostrow’s culinary vision with English’s operational infrastructure, French English can scale faster than either chef could alone.
- Purpose-driven brands resonate: The charitable partnership with Sharsheret demonstrates how modern hospitality brands can build community impact into their business model.
- Multi-format flexibility matters: Restaurants, pop-ups, catering, and media projects all contribute to brand building in ways that single-location concepts cannot match.
About Ostrow Cuisine
Founded by Chef Olivia Ostrow, Ostrow Cuisine is a culinary licensing and intellectual-property company redefining modern kosher hospitality through design, storytelling, and global collaboration. The company owns and operates Maison Ostrow and the French English brand platform, developing restaurant concepts, products, catering, and media projects that unite excellence, inclusivity, and elevated kosher dining worldwide.
For more information about French English and Maison Ostrow, visit Maison Ostrow or follow their journey on social media.
The Bottom Line
French English marks a pivotal moment in the food and beverage industry: proof that tradition and innovation aren’t mutually exclusive, and that dietary restrictions can become defining features rather than limitations.
As Chefs Olivia Ostrow and Todd English put it: “We’re here to make kosher unforgettable.”
For hospitality professionals looking to understand where the industry is heading, French English is a brand worth watching closely. The combination of culinary excellence, strategic vision, and global ambition suggests this partnership is just getting started.
What do you think about the French English concept? Could chef-driven kosher dining become the next big trend in hospitality? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Meta Description: Chefs Olivia Ostrow and Todd English launch French English, a global kosher hospitality brand redefining elevated dining from Miami to the world.
Hashtags: #FrenchEnglish #KosherDining #FoodAndBeverage #HospitalityIndustry #ChefPartnership
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
