The Holder family opened its first bakery in 1889. Today, the Groupe Holder helms multiple bread and pastry businesses, including the multinational bakery giant Paul. It has expanded Ladurée’s brand into several sectors, from Ladurée Beauté and its collections for home, bath, and body to Les Marquis de Ladurée, which focuses exclusively on chocolate products—chocolate macarons, breads and pastries made with chocolate doughs and filled with chocolate, the richest of hot chocolates, and of course bars and bonbons. Ladurée has nearly 100 locations worldwide, in cities like Geneva, Dubai, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, and London. Washington, DC and Los Angeles will soon join New York and Miami in the US.
A visit to the original rue Royale location or one of its City of Light sisters remains a must-do on many a food tourist’s itinerary, however—as it should. Towers of macarons beckon from the window; once inside, it becomes impossible to choose between religieuses, mille-feuilles, babas au rhum, or the many pastries based on saucer-sized macarons. Sipping on a cup of fragrant tea and gently pressing a fork into the softness of an éclair, it’s easy to believe that not a century has passed.
