January 2017 | Business View Magazine

54 55 en in the back of the store has grown to a full bakery that supplies Le Macaron shops throughout the country, and Didier Saba and his staff of 20 have gone from producing 700 pastries a day to over 15,000. The gelato is still imported from France, however, because Guillem says she can’t find certain ingredients here in the U.S. “We have some flavors that are very particular like crème brulé gelato, or violet flow- er gelato. And our customers really love that.” Guillem says that when awarding a franchise, she is not necessarily looking for people with baking experience. “When we decided to become a franchisor, we didn’t want to have everybody bake or have the skills of a French chef, because it would have been very difficult to have the same quality of the products,” she explains. “So there is no par- ticular skill needed to be a franchisee. We are looking for Le Macaron French Pastries people who like to have con- tact with the customers; who really love the idea of bringing this concept to their commu- nity and sharing it with people. It’s a store where the customer is always happy; they come to treat themselves and their loved ones. It’s very nice to run a store like that. When I used to run the store in its first year, it was my pleasure to go to work everymorning.” Franchisees are assisted in finding store locations and are put in contact with the appro- priate realtors, contractors, and all other necessary partners Franchisees are assisted in finding store locations and are put in contact with the appropriate realtors, contractors, and all other necessary partners throughout the build-out and permitting processes.