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.
[1][2][3] The word restaurateur is simply French for a person who owns or runs a restaurant.
[5] A less common variant spelling restauranteur is formed from the "more familiar" term restaurant[6] with the French suffix -eur borrowed from restaurateur.
[4][6] The Oxford English Dictionary gives examples of this variant (described as "originally American") going back to 1837.