2023-12-20 18:44:00
Michaël Labro is just 30 years old and in a few days, he will be the world number 1 macaron maker. The Liégeois runs the company PM Sweet, in Oupeye. His story is unusual. It all started with a voucher from FNAC that he received in secondary 4.
“I’ve been a big fan of pastries since I was very young. At 15, I received a 20-euro FNAC voucher with which I bought myself a book on macarons. You should know that it’s super hard to to do. I couldn’t do it at first. Thanks to the advice of Mercotte du Meilleur Pâtissier, I managed to make my first macarons”, he says.
His best friend finds his macaroons delicious, and he encouraged him to go sell them in the neighborhood. That’s what he does, but he needs a scooter. And that’s when his dog, a Labrador, comes in. “The first macarons, I produced them in my parents’ kitchen. I sold them with my friend Antoine in the neighborhood. I wanted us to be able to sell them further away. I was 16 years old, I didn’t have any means of transport, but I had a magnificent Labrador. I put him to work and I gave him babies. This allowed me to finance my scooter. Thanks to that, I was able to sell further afield. For me it was already a big export. I went to the next town, and that allowed me to get my first order of 1,000 macarons.”
While continuing to make macarons, Michaël Labro began studying medicine in Liège. The problem is that the blockade takes place during the holidays, which is the busiest time for the macaron. “It was very complicated. At that time, I was no longer producing in my parents’ kitchen. I had transformed my grandfather’s garage into a small manufacturing workshop. I lived during the blockade in this garage. I studied while cooking, and when production was finished, I slept in the back of the garage in my sleeping bag.”
Michaël Labro stopped medicine after 5 successful years. The Liégeois says today that he has no regrets. “I found training as a doctor absolutely fascinating. It taught me the spirit of synthesis, concentration, I made lots of friends. But when it came time for internships, it was very complicated. We had to do a choice. During classes, you can pretend to be present. But during internships, it’s much more complicated.”
As the macaroon is generally sweet, and he almost became a doctor, the Liégeois advises consuming it with a certain moderation. “These are natural elements. We must not exaggerate. It’s like everything”he said.
Michaël Labro is a few days away from becoming the world number 1 in the macaron sector, when his 17,000 square meter factory opens in Thimister-Clermont, near Verviers. It exports 95% of its production. “From January 1, we will produce more than 1 million macarons per day. When you think about the garage, it makes you dizzy. But the advantage is that the macaron is appreciated in all four corners of the world. And the company masters major exports. Export will become our greatest lever of growth for the coming years.”he concludes.
oupeye macaron Liégeois food
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