Lacadé had hoped that Lourdes water might have special mineral properties which would allow him to develop Lourdes into a spa town, to compete with neighbouring Cauterets and Bagnères-de-Bigorre.
He apprenticed at the Grand Hôtel of Paris and the Hotel d'Angleterre of Cauterets, then worked at various restaurants in Paris and San Remo, and the Hôtel de Paris of Monte Carlo.