2023-11-12 07:20:00
At 84, avenue des Champs-Élysées, behind the tarpaulins that cover the shop windows, a small baking revolution is discreetly preparing. At the entrance to the Galerie des Champs, nestled between the points of sale of more or less prestigious competitors – Pierre Hermé on the left, Brioche Dorée on the right and Ladurée on the sidewalk opposite -, the emblematic boutique of the Paul brands reinvents itself.
Stepladders, electrical cable reels and plaster dust will soon give way to chandeliers made in France, warm terra cotta-colored paint and the unmissable black and white checkered tiles that adorn the floors of the legendary brand’s boutiques.
The key to renewal? A “French-style” coffee shop
One year before the Paris Olympic Games, Paul hopes to give himself a major facelift by opening his latest concept of French-style coffee shops on the most beautiful avenue in the world. Thirty-one have already opened in France (Montparnasse station, Orly airport, Lyon Part Dieu station, Chartres, motorway rest area on the A7) and around the world (Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, United Kingdom). These new cafes aim to eat into the market shares of leaders Starbucks or Columbus.
Paul, created one hundred and thirty-four years ago and which generates 822 million euros in turnover (in 2022) with its 800 stores in France and around the world, is beginning a new chapter in its history.
The famous bakery brand in the middle of work before the opening of a Paul le Café, on the Champs-Elysées. LP/Sophie Stadler
It all began in 1889 in Croix near Lille (North), when Charlemagne Mayot set up his bakery. In 1935, his granddaughter married Julien Holder, also a baker, with whom she opened a shop in the city center of Lille. Then the couple bought the Paul bakery, already popular in Lille, and kept the name. Their son, Francis Holder, began working in the family bakery at the age of 15 and took over the reins of the business with his mother when his father died. He is the one who will shake up the sector.
In 1972, when local bakers were being hurt by the growing supply of supermarkets and their industrial white bread, he revived traditional recipes, rehabilitated long sourdough fermentation and baked his breads over a wood fire, in front of customers.
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Consumers love it, the Paul point of sale is always full. “And, convinced that good old-fashioned bread can only be made with quality flour, my father reconstituted with the cereal producers an entire sector of selected wheat and created a unique flour, which today still feeds 100 % of our French and foreign bakeries,” explains Maxime Holder, president and CEO of Paul bakeries.
The first artisanal baker to set up in a shopping center
The Lille craftsman doesn’t stop there. Close to Gérard Mulliez, another zealous Northerner who is developing his hypermarkets at the same time, the small baker Holder offers to provide better quality bread to all Auchans. He then created — still in Hauts-de-France — Moulin Bleu (today Château Blanc), a large industrial bakery supplying frozen raw breads.
Today, there are more than 550 references, sold to mass retailers, restaurateurs and even bakeries and pastry shops. “But be careful, Château Blanc does not deliver fresh bread to Paul bakeries,” explains Maxime Holder. Only in frozen raw pastries, choux pastry or pie shells. »
The stroke of genius of Francis Holder, his father? Establish yourself in shopping malls, sworn enemies of artisans, to offer quality breads accessible to as many people as possible in friendly shops where you can come and take a break, buy mini-macaroons or sandwiches prepared with specific breads, “paulettes”.
Paul is the first brand to offer hot baguettes all day long and even take-away coffees. “Paul was the pioneering network of new generation bakery and snacking,” assures Bernard Boutboul, president of Gira Conseil. All this while relying on a family artisanal history and a strong “premium” image. In the years 1990-2000, the brand established itself as the leading baker in France in terms of number of points of sale.
It is also the only concept of bakeries (own and franchised) recognizable at a glance: black facades, charming retro decor and abundant stalls. The group is also the very first to dare to invest in train stations, airports and motorway areas. “Places where no competitor wanted to go, as these sites were renowned for providing poor quality catering,” adds the current CEO.
Reversal of fortune
Finally, Paul quickly expanded its international development with the opening of a franchise in Japan in 1989. The brand is now present in 52 countries, with 400 points of sale, including 33 in the United Kingdom, 28 in Japan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. In 2022, international turnover even exceeded that achieved in France, reaching 421 million euros, compared to 401 million in France.
However, the brand has also experienced failures, controversies and reversals of fortune. The Raffarin law of 1998 first caused certain points of sale to lose their designation as artisanal bakeries, because they did not make bread on site, the goods coming from other Paul points of sale which had bakeries.
More recently, in 2017, the call from Francis Holder, the patriarch, to vote for François Fillon on behalf of his 14,000 employees, did not go through internally or with the general public. Then, the Covid crisis and the drop in attendance pushed the Holder group to painfully separate from Ladurée in 2022, its “luxury” flagship held for more than twenty-eight years, present in 22 countries.
Always looking to improve his recipes, Paul has notably eliminated artificial colorings, palm oil and flavorings from his bakery. LP/Sophie Stadler
“And above all, there was a time when it felt good to go out into the street with a Paul designer bag, but that’s over,” comments Bernard Boutboul. This was before low-cost or even more “premium” competitors like the MOF (best workers in France) and chains such as Marie Blachère, Ange or Louise came in turn to revolutionize the market and give a real blow old people in the Holder family network.
“We see Paul bakeries everywhere, but in France they seem not to have moved in the face of competition,” adds the president of Gira Conseil. The new Cafés Paul are a long-delayed reaction. Paul wakes up fifteen years following the arrival of Starbucks in France. »
French points of sale renovated “in a more contemporary style”
This time, no more “rustic chic”, the brand wants to carry out a makeover in its 400 bakeries, cafes and (rare) restaurants in France. “As we have already done internationally, the French points of sale will be renovated within three to five years, in a more contemporary style,” assures Maxime Holder. To accuse us of inaction is unfair, our image abroad is that of a dynamic and innovative brand, we launch more than 60 new products each year. »
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With in particular changes in recipes for breads, salads or sandwiches. Paul has thus eliminated 86 components from his products, including artificial colors, palm oil and flavorings. More unexpected innovations have also emerged, such as the launch, in October, of its first compostable coffee pods.
As for the new Paul le Café, which no longer sells bread but offers an expanded menu of drinks, pastries and snacks, they should allow the brand to regain control over new bakers and rejuvenate its targets. “We are not for innovation at all costs, baking is not a fashion, it is timeless,” continues Maxime Holder. But competition is healthy and challenges us. We were the first network of premium friendly bakeries, it’s just a matter of reminding our customers of that. »
Paul hopes to open nearly 200 new addresses in France within five to ten years.
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