This is the story of how a family achieved exceptional success with a product that was such a French tradition that it had become quite banal. Pierre Poilâne has found a way to reconcile French people with traditional-style bread, opting for quality and creativity at a time when standardization has become the norm. It all began in 1932, when the first Poilâne bakery opened in Paris’ Rue du Cherche-Midi. Pierre Poilâne reinvented the round loaf, making it big enough so that it would remain fresh without hardening. Prepared and cooked in the old style, in wood-burning ovens, Poilâne’s round loaves rekindled the use of large bread slices in the surrounding bistros. Next, restaurant owners started including Poilâne bread, specifically, in their menus. When Lionel Poilâne took over the company in the 1970s, he started exporting the formula abroad – first to America, then across all continents.

Maintaining a constant state-of-the-art approach, both in terms of research and innovation, he was intent on combining age-old techniques and modern technology. He put his ingenious ideas into practice to produce large quantities of traditional-style bread. He opened his first shop outside France in the year 2000, in London. His daughter Apollonia is carrying on the tradition, having taken over from Lionel as company manager. www.poilane.fr