La Madeleine de Corps, Inc., operating as La Madeleine, is a

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

of 86 locations (as of 2018) in the

U.S. states In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

of Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia and Arizona. Its headquarters is in Dallas, Texas.

History

La Madeleine Country French Café was founded in February 1983 by Patrick Esquerré, a

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

-born businessman. With the advice and support of legendary retail magnate

Stanley Marcus Harold Stanley Marcus"Personal" (column), ''The Dallas Morning News'', November 9, 1905, page 5. (April 20, 1905 – January 22, 2002) was president (1950–1972) and later chairman of the board (1972–1976) of the luxury retailer Neima ...

, of

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

fame, and his mother, Monique Esquerré, he opened his first bakery on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, Texas near

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

, and it soon expanded to a café. In 1998, Esquerré resigned and La Madeleine was sold to four investment companies. In 2001, the company was sold again to

Groupe Le Duff Groupe Le Duff is a French restaurant conglomerate, with holdings in Europe and the Americas, consisting of over 1,310 restaurants and bakeries. It includes Bridor, La Madeleine, Kamps, Mimi's Cafe, Pizza Del Arte, and Brioche Dorée. The comp ...

, a French restaurant chain company owned by

Louis Le Duff Louis Le Duff (born 1945/1946) is a French billionaire businessman, and the founder and CEO of Groupe Le Duff and the Brioche Dorée bakery chain. Early life Le Duff went to school at Lycée de la Croix-Rouge, Brest. He earned a bachelor's deg ...

, and co-purchasers Lapointe Rosenstein and Cadigan Investment Partners, for an undisclosed amount. In 2008, the company caused outrage after discontinuing the free side of bread after 20 years due to wheat costs, and started charging 49 cents. In addition, the restaurants only offered sourdough bread with certain items that were purchased such as entrées, soups, and salads. However, the discontinuation was recalled three days later with the suggestion that customers not waste the food after La Madeleine allegedly received a "couple hundred responses...mostly complaints". Food is served

cafeteria A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...

style for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The buildings are designed to resemble restaurants found across the French countryside. Farm tools and

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

paintings hang on the walls, and the restaurants are known for keeping a fire burning in winter. However, in March 2010, at the Preston Rd/Forest Ln location in Dallas, the cafeteria style was dropped for a modern ordering station system. In a news article regarding this, Esquerré called his resignation a regret and announced he was joining La Madeleine again as an ambassador/adviser, claiming he was even "going to be in the dishwashing room". That same year, La Madeleine's Belt Line Rd location in Dallas was named "Best Soup in Dallas" by ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

''. Esquerré has commented that he dislikes the term "chain," and has repeatedly referred to his restaurants as a family. The original store is still in existence, at 3072 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas, despite major reconstruction of the surrounding area by SMU. The chain was named a winner of the Great Dallas Business Ethics Award in 2018 by the North Texas Ethics Association. Current President is Philippe Jean, French former CEO of the Del Arte brand, another sister company inside Le Duff Group in France. Philippe Jean has been with Le Duff for more than 7 years. He has been in the industry for 30 years in companies such as

Sodexo Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance) is a French food services and facilities management company headquartered in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. It has 522,000 employees as of 2023, operates in 55 countries and serves 100 million custome ...

, Pierre et Vacances Center Parcs, Elior Areas and Groupe Flo.

References

External links

*
Groupeleduff.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madeleine (Restaurant Chain) Restaurants in Dallas French-American culture in Texas French restaurants in the United States Restaurant franchises Restaurants established in 1983 1983 establishments in Texas Fast casual restaurants Restaurant chains in the United States American companies established in 1983

History

See also

References

External links