Paul restaurant, Louvre, Paris 18 August 2015

Paul is a French chain of

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers wh ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

restaurants found in 47 countries with the head office at Marcq-en-Barœul, Greater

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

, France. It specializes in serving French products, including breads, crêpes, sandwiches,

macaron A macaron ( , ) or French macaroon ( ) is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and food colouring. The macaron is traditionally held to have been introduced in France by the It ...

s, soups, cakes, pastries, coffee, wine and beer. It is owned by Groupe Holder which also owned the French luxury pâtisserie Ladurée from 2002 to 2021.

History

In 1889 a bakery is established by Emmanuel & Trish Croix, Nord, France. In 1908, their son, Edmond Mayot, took over the bakery. In 1935, Edmond's daughter, Suzanne Mayot, married Julien Holder, himself a baker and pastry chef. Julien Holder had learned very young the bakery. Together, they opened a bakery on Rue des Sarrazins, in the Wazemmes district of

. In 1953 the Holders and their son Francis took over a better known bakery-pâtisserie owned by the Paul family, and they kept the "Paul" name. Following the death of his father in 1958, Francis Holder with his mother took over the family bakery in Lille. Because of his status as a breadwinner, Francis Holder did not fight in the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

, however, he was sent for his military obligations to Nogent-le-Rotrou, in

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575. When he returned in 1963, he opened a new Paul bakery, on boulevard de Belfort, Lille, with 10,000 old

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th cent ...

. With his mother's assistance, he expanded the business and when the Nouvelles Galeries opened in 1965, he immediately offered to supply their bread. Under the "Moulin Bleu", Francis Holder provided bread to Auchan and Monoprix from his bakery in Lambersart. By 1970, he was able to purchase an abandoned industrial site at La Madeleine, in the suburbs of Lille, transforming it into an enormous bakery. The installation in 1972 of a wood stove at the original Lille bakery proved so popular that, as the Paul chain expanded into French malls in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

and other major French cities, it was incorporated into the general layout. Apart from a change of livery in 1993 (to the now-signature black), the layout and visual aesthetic of Paul stores has not changed.

Locations

As of 2022, there are more than 750 Paul bakery/café restaurants of which 424 in France and over 300 in 46 other countries. The first bakery outside France was opened in 1985 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

. The first international franchise started in 1989 in Japan, with a bakery opened in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most p ...

. The third country outside France to open was

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

in 1998, where 14 Paul bakeries are open. It is also present with 34 bakeries in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

since 2000, 14 in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

since 2002, 21 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

since 2007, 12 in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and 6 in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

since 2008, 7 in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

since 2012 and over 70 in

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

since 2013. In addition to French cities, it has multiple locations in other cities such as Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Bucharest, Bruxelles, Cairo, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dubai, Johannesburg, London, Prague, Qatar, Rabat, Riyad, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Washington. Paul's first bakery in Pakistan was opened in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

in March 2021. In May 2021, Paul opened its first Canadian bakery in Vancouver, Canada.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.boulangeries-paul.com/ Bakeries of France Restaurants established in 1889 Bakery cafés Restaurant franchises French companies established in 1889 Fast-food chains of France Coffeehouses and cafés in France

History

Locations

Menu

See also

References

External links