Ladurée

 

The iconic and colorful macarons are available in a plethora of delicious flavors. Photography Courtesy of Ladurée.

In the mid-19th century, Pierre Desfontaines, second cousin of Louis Ernest Ladurée, developed the iconic macaron as we know it—two wonderfully chewy shells sandwiched to one another by a soft, scrumptious ganache filling to create a double-decker delight. This fabulous creation and the knowledge of the company’s illustrious history enticed David Holder of the Holder Group to purchase the Parisian establishment as part of the family business. By 1997, a restaurant and ornate tearoom hybrid was opened in a prominent location on the well-known Champs-Élysées, which is often regarded as the world’s most beautiful avenue. With the Holder family’s influence and business expertise, Ladurée has skyrocketed onto the world’s stage and now includes tearooms, pastry shops, restaurants, and chocolate shops in numerous countries, and, of course, with a large e-commerce presence.

Salon Bleu, or “The Blue Room,” is an upstairs lounge at Ladurée Paris. Photography Courtesy of Ladurée.

Despite being a global sensation with more than 100 locations around the world, Ladurée operates like a small family business from the top down with the executives highly entrenched in the day-to-day decisions to ensure that the brand’s standards and traditions are upheld. “Before Ladurée, we were a family filled with bakers,” explains Elisabeth Holder Raberin, president of Ladurée North America and sister of David. “I used to see my grandmother every day, and she lived on top of a bakery, so those smells are engrained in my memory. I would play in the store and play with the teatime things when I was a little girl. It was always going to be a part of my future. It’s a part of my DNA.”

Elisabeth Holder Raberin leads the brand as President of Ladurée North America. Photography Courtesy of Ladurée.

For Elisabeth, going into the family business was truly an easy decision—the “Ladurée lifestyle” was deeply personal and familiar to her, as the company acquisition is now nearly 25 years old. With a degree from the European Business School in Paris and a résumé that includes esteemed fashion brands like Ralph Lauren and Hermès, Elisabeth was the perfect candidate to develop the U.S. markets and expand the company’s global presence. The accomplished businesswoman was more than equipped for the position and decided to relocate her family from Paris to New York City in 2011 for the grand opening of Ladurée’s first retail boutique on Madison Avenue. Since then, Ladurée SoHo, a full-service restaurant and tearoom, has launched as the U.S. flagship, and several other locations in Miami, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, have been added to the company’s repertoire.

The interior of the Madison Avenue store is elegant and wonderfully French. Photography Courtesy of Ladurée.

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