Page 70 - Forbes - USA (March 2018)

Th e World’ s billio na ir e s

h
FrancIs older a consultant for Château Blanc. “He’s modeled the industrial
by the artisanal mold. It’s through the methodology which he
a baker’s coat, his name embroidered macaron maison Ladurée, which has 85 shops in 50 countries,
t his pastry factory in Lille, France,
knows like the back of his hand.”
where the air smells like chocolate,
Groupe Holder has three main subsidiaries: Aside from
Francis Holder is wearing a white
Lille-based Château Blanc, there is the renowned Parisian
and the artisanal bakery-cafe chain Paul with 740 stores in
on the front, over a tailored blue suit
43 countries. Groupe Holder’s yearly revenue is about $1 bil-
and red-striped tie. Paintings dat-
lion, and Forbes estimates net profit margins of 14%—more
ing back centuries cover the three

than double that of bakery-cafe chain Panera Bread before it
walls of his office. One is a portrait of

acquired Au Bon Pain in 2017. And all that dough has made
a young baker wearing a stained coat

and a floppy toque. Another depicts
a dog chewing on a baguette. One
world, with a net worth of $1.2 billion.
“If tomorrow I was ten times richer, it would not make any
more shows a hand coming out of the

difference for me,” says Holder, who declines to comment on
shadows to steal a loaf, an apparent homage to Jean Valjean’s Holder a billionaire—the 1,867th wealthiest person in the
petty crime in Les Misérables. Th ere’s not a
famous artist to be found in his 8,000-work

collection. The only requirement is that
each painting must focus on Holder’s bil-
lion-dollar passion, baking, or his favorite
obsession, bread.
The fourth wall is made of glass so Hol-

der can stare across the hall at the research-
and-development center for Château Blanc,
the industrial arm of Groupe Holder, the
private baking conglomerate he founded

and controls. The 77-year-old loves to spend
his days watching over the experimental
bakeshop’s seven mixers and three counter-
tops, checking in with the chefs throughout
the day to sample the test runs. “We are in-

dustrialists with the mentality of craftsmen,”
Holder says.

Just down the hall, past dozens of office

employees all wearing matching white bak-
er’s coats, is the heart of Château Blanc’s

100,000-square-foot factory, which now makes the compa- his net worth and profits.

ny’s most craved product, the macaron. The heart of Holder’s “I wasn’t That modesty, however,

masterful assembly-line operation is a machine with a con- going to didn’t stop him from embrac-
veyor belt the length of two football fields that bakes more Ladurée ing the astronomical rise of

than 30,000 meringue macaron shells an hour. the macaron—the petite sau-
Château Blanc’s headquarters—which, as its name im- for their cers sandwiched together with

plies, is painted white and modeled after a castle—fulfills a macarons,” jelly or ganache fillings. In
boyhood ambition Holder had growing up in Lille. And then Holder says. 1993 he purchased Ladurée, a
some. His original dream was to have a small bread facto- chic Paris restaurant founded
ry with “a chimney with smoke coming out of it.” Since then, in 1862 that invented the mod-
Holder has spent six decades perfecting the marriage of in- ern macaron and has since col-
dustrialization with artisanal baked goods. Long obsessed laborated with major fashion houses ranging from Lanvin in
with America’s industrial food processes, Holder embraces 2012 (bubble-gum-flavored) to Emilio Pucci in 2015 (tanger-

smooth mass production, and that has propelled his rise. But ine-lemon-lavender macarons inside a box wrapped in the

he balances affordability and speed with a distinctly French company’s signature silk print, Capri), as well as rapper Phar-
attitude about the best ingredients and product quality—still rell Williams in 2014 (peanut butter and another that’s co-

using fresh yellow butter in mass-produced loaves and pas- la-flavored) and performance artist Marina Abramović in Donato sarDella/getty images
tries. “He’s so improved the industrial applications,” says Ste- 2017 (Prussian blue and edible gold leaf, stamped with the

ven Kaplan, who has spent five decades researching French Abramović family’s coat of arms).
bread at Cornell University and has worked with Holder as And just as Ladurée produces more than macarons, the
68 | FORBES MARCH 31, 2018