Ladurée Paris Royale - Bakery

Ladurée Paris Royale, the Beginning of the Business

In 1862, Louis Ernest Ladurée, born in Paris on February 21, 1836, a miller by trade, opened a bakery at 16 rue Royale. At the time, the Madeleine was a business district where French luxury products were sold.

The Baker Becomes a “Pastry Chef”

Following a fire caused by the Commune riots in 1871, the bakery was rebuilt and transformed into a pastry shop. During the Second Empire, Jeanne Souchard, wife of Ernest Ladurée (son of Louis Ernest) and daughter of a Rouen hotelier, blended the art of Parisian café culture with that of pastry-making.

The Expansion of the Pastry Shop on rue Royale

In 1930, a salon opened on the first floor of 16 rue Royale in Paris.

After the Liberation of Paris in 1944, Pierre Desfontaines, a cousin of Ernest Ladurée, took over the struggling business, which was in decline due to a lack of raw materials.

The Creation of the “Macaron”

He revived the business and invented the Parisian macaron in 1960 with the help of his pastry chef, Marcel Thébert. They devised the idea of incorporating cocoa into the Italian meringue (shell), adding a chocolate ganache between the two shells, and then introducing flavors such as coffee and raspberry.

The New Owner: the Holder Group

In 1993, David Holder and his father Francis, founder of the Holder Group, acquired and developed the Ladurée company.

Three years later, the company achieves a turnover of 24 million francs and employs 140 people. Pierre Hermé becomes Ladurée’s head pastry chef.

In 1997, two boutiques open in Paris, one on Avenue des Champs-Élysées decorated by Jacques Garcia, the other on Rue Bonaparte decorated by Roxane Rodriguez. In 2006, a boutique opens at Harrods in London, also decorated by Roxane Rodriguez. Pierre Hermé leaves the group the following year and is replaced by Philippe Andrieu.

From the 2000s onwards, the brand invests in diversifying its products.

In March 2021, Ladurée sells 100% of its shares to the LOV group, owned by Stéphane Courbit.
In April 2021, Julien Alvarez, former chef of Le Bristol Paris, becomes Ladurée’s International Executive Chef.
By the end of 2021, Mélanie Carron also joins the adventure as Managing Director. Appointed General Manager of the Ladurée House.

Ladurée and its production sites

Ladurée operates several production sites, including one in France and its main site in Switzerland.

In 2010, the company acquires a 2.05-hectare plot in Enney, in the municipality of Bas-Intyamon, in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, and invests 20 million Swiss francs to open at the end of 2011 the “Swiss Macaron Factory,” a production and research site. The laboratory produces the macarons sold outside Europe, and since 2020, those for the six Parisian boutiques.

The pastries intended for shops in the Paris region, as well as Viennese pastries, ice creams, and confectionery, are produced in the 2,000 m² laboratory located in Morangis, in the Essonne department. Fresh pastries are made daily in local bakeries.