Podcast: Mélanie Carron of Ladurée on her career and the iconic Parisian pastry house

By

Emma RUFFENACH

Published
Jul 22, 2024

Mélanie Carron is the new guest on the LuxurynsightXFashionNetwork podcast. Together with Olivier Guyot, FashionNetwork.com's editor-in-chief for France, the managing director of Ladurée talks about her career and the current challenges facing the iconic Parisian pastry house known all over the world for its macaroons. Founded in 1862, the company is warming up for the Olympics with a special collection and renovated flagship shops to cater for the influx of tourists to the French capital.

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Although Ladurée is a partner of major sporting events such as Rolland Garros, this summer it is riding the wave of interest generated by this international sporting event. "We were approached by the Paris 2024 organisation, which was looking to develop a whole series of licensed products reflecting the best of French know-how," explains Mélanie Carron. 

This licensed gourmet capsule includes macaroons sold in boxes of 12 or 28 (from €39 to €83), pastries such as Eugénie biscuits (coated in chocolate with a soft centre) and mango tarts, as well as a marshmallow-scented candle. All these products have been designed and merchandised as "souvenirs": they are packaged in original packaging "that reflects the visual identity of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games." "Ladurée's gift boxes are not to be thrown away, but kept," reminds the manager.

In anticipation of the Olympic Games, Ladurée has also renovated its flagship store at 16, rue Royale in Paris (8th arrondissement), which opened at the end of the 19th century, and its boutique on the Champs-Elysées (at number 75 avenue, 8th arrondissement) with a view to representing French art de vivre and elegance and improving the customer experience in the shop. "The idea was to rethink what we wanted to showcase about the company, and how we could integrate all our patisserie expertise into the boutiques, with very different spaces that allow customers to wander between the boutique, the tea room, the dessert bar and the cookery classes," adds the general manager.

Adaptations to local flavours 

The chain, which will be taken over in 2021 by the Lov group (headed by Stéphane Courbit), is now present in around twenty countries and aims to return to its pre-Covid level of business, which was in excess of 110 million euros in sales. In autumn 2021, Mélanie Carron took over the reins of the company founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Ladurée. A graduate of Essec and the London School of Economics, she is a connoisseur of the customer experience, having spent three years in the marketing department of the Accor group's Ibis chain and four years in charge of the ADP group's hospitality strategy. 

"As in fashion, we have our timeless creations," smiles the Ladurée managing director. This jewel in the crown of French gastronomy combines a classic offer with "four collections a year of animated pastries in each country. These local adaptations are critical for our business because, at the same time, we have our iconic products, for someone coming to discover French pastry in its purest form, and at the same time, for consumers who come regularly, we have to offer products adapted to local flavours, with variations in materials and shapes," adds Mélanie Carron.

In this podcast (in French), the entrepreneur also details the ambitious plans of the Parisian house - which defines itself as a luxury house for its products of excellence - in terms of international expansion in various new Asian markets such as South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. At the same time, Ladurée plans to boost its presence in the United States, where it has been present for fifteen years in the Soho district of New York.