La Maison du Chocolat

La Maison du Chocolat ("The House of Chocolate") is a French chain of chocolate boutiques that started in Paris and now runs stores around the world.

La Maison du Chocolat belongs to the French agribusiness group Groupe Savencia Saveurs & Spécialités (formerly Soparind Bongrain Group)[1]

History

In 1977, pastry chef Robert Linxe opened the first La Maison du Chocolat in Paris. Robert Linxe, founder of La Maison du Chocolat, dedicated his life to chocolate. Born in the French Basque region, he learned to be a chocolatier in Bayonne, France and Switzerland.

Linxe selected a location for the first boutique with a wine cellar, which provided ideal conditions for preserving chocolates. He also establish laboratory there. Linx was notable for adding Ganache to his chocolates. It is a silky blend of chocolate and fresh cream covered in chocolate.

Linxe opened three more Paris boutiques between 1987 and 1989. In 1990, La Maison du Chocolat opened a boutique in New York City. In 1994, it opened a fourth store in Paris.

In 1995, Geoffroy d’Anglejan was named General Manager of La Maison du Chocolat. The brand was established in Japan, opening in Tokyo at Omote Sando. The brand became a member of Comité Colbert. Another New York boutique opened at Rockefeller Center.

Nicolas Cloiseau, Meilleur Ouvrier de France chocolatier, started working for the chain in 1996. Linxe immediately took notice of this pastry chef-chocolatier. In 2000, Linxe created a position for Cloiseau to craft new products

Between 2003 and 2007, the chain opened boutiques in London at Piccadilly, in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo. in Cannes, France. In Paris, locations opened at the Louvre, on Avenue Victor Hugo, and Printemps in la Maison Haussmann in Paris.

In 2007, the brand celebrated its 30th anniversary. D’Anglejan named Gilles Marchal as successor to Linxe. Linxe was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. Nicolas Cloiseau obtained the title Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier.

Between 2008 and 2010, stores opened in Hong Kong, Wall Street in New York, and at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

In 2010, La Maison du Chocolat inaugurated a boutique with salon de thé in the Matsuyu department store in Tokyo in the Ginza district and opened in Selfridges in London, along with two new airport boutiques in Paris. In 2011 the chain opened the “Boutique coffret” in locations in France, Hong Kong and the United States.

In 2012 d’Anglejan named Cloiseau to succeed Marchal with the title Master Chef with more openings in France, Japan, and New York.

In June 2018, Guillaume Mazarguil becomes the new CEO of La Maison du Chocolat.[2]

Nicolas Cloiseau, Master Chef of La Maison du Chocolat

Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier 2007.

Scandal

In July 2018, the French online investigative and opinion journal Mediapart publishes an investigation according to a series of documents, issued by the French Labour inspection and the Minister of Labour, which relate practices of discrimination against one of its employees who complained in particular for acts of workplace harassment and sexual harassment within the company. The article refers to the case of another employee who was the victim of sexual harassment by another supervisor. Questioned on this point, the management of La Maison du Chocolat told Mediapart that the manager "was immediately laid off as a precautionary measure".[3]

Sites Web

• www.lamaisonduchocolat.com

• www.lamaisonduchocolat.fr

• www.lamaisonduchocolat.co.uk

• www.lamaisonduchocolat.co.jp

• www.lamaisonduchocolat.us

References
  1. https://www.lsa-conso.fr/bongrain-change-de-nom-et-pourrait-se-separer-d-un-site-de-production,204127
  2. http://www.lefigaro.fr/decideurs/nomination/2018/03/30/33002-20180330ARTFIG00314-guillaume-mazarguilun-fidele-des-bongrain-a-la-maison-du-chocolat.php
  3. https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/economie/140718/la-maison-du-chocolat-veut-licencier-un-salarie-l-inspection-du-travail-refuse-trois-fois
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