Specialty Food Magazine

Spring 2017

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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A ugustin Paluel-Marmont and Michel de Rovira are trained pastry chefs from France, but they're too entrepreneurial to get stuck in a kitchen. Through their brand, Michel et Augustin, the partners have embarked on a mission to bring premium, made-in-France baked goods to the everyday lives of discerning American consumers. This pastry chef is on a mission to make made-in-France baked goods an everyday part of American life. BY JULIE BESONEN "French chefs are popular around the world, French gas- tronomy has had a huge impact, but buying French food in daily life? It's hard to find a French brand of dessert or crackers here," says Paluel-Marmont, 41, speaking on the phone from Brooklyn, having just arrived home from his monthly trip to France. He has a point. Other than jam, sea salt, Dijon mustard, and cheese, French-produced specialty foods are under-repre- sented in the American marketplace and not widely stocked in the average kitchen cabinet or refrigerator. Their company is making a strong play to change that, launching a "fresh French revolution," as he calls it. A Shared Pastry Obsession Michel et Augustin was founded in Paris in 2004 and last year posted $50 million in global sales based on 110 SKUs. The products are currently sold in 23 countries. One could say it all began with a butter cookie, but it goes back further than that. The men have been friends since they were schoolchildren. When they were in their 20s, they reconnected after finding themselves dissatisfied with corporate-type careers. Both had gone to culinary school to study the art of pastry, more for the love of it than anything else, and they paired up to find the best baguettes and pain au chocolat in Paris. It took them two years to visit 1,263 bak- eries. In 2003, they published a Michelin-style handbook, "Guide PHOTOS: MICHEL ET AUGUSTIN Augustin Paluel-Marmont, CEO, co-founder, Michel et Augustin A Fresh French Revolution producer profile 66 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com

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