Francis Holder (born July 28, 1940) is a French businessman, Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Groupe HOLDER S.A.S which owns companies like

Ladurée Pâtisserie E. Ladurée, commonly known as Ladurée (), is a French manufacturer and retailer of high-end pastries and candy, which was established in 1862. It is one of the world's best-known sellers of the double-decker macaron, 15,000 of w ...

and

PAUL Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

Biography

Holder began working for his parents in 1953 after they took over a pastry shop belonging to the Paul family and decided to keep its name. In 1958, when his father died, Holder and his mother took over the family bakery in

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 Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

and continued its development, founding the Groupe Holder in 1962. In 1965, operating from a bakehouse in

Lambersart Lambersart () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. This commune is located in the Métropole Européenne de Lille, and is a suburb of the city of Lille, bordering it on its northwest side. Inhabitants of the town are called ...

, Holder began supplying Les Nouvelles Galeries in France (Lille) with bread. His customer list soon included

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% s ...

, Nouvelles Galeries and later

Monoprix Monoprix S.A. () is a major French retail chain with its headquarters in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, near Paris. The company's stores combine food retailing with fashion, beauty and home products. History The company was founded in 1932 ...

. This was the first step in the creation of his production company, the “Moulin Bleu” brand. By 1970, he was able to expand his business into the mass retail sector through his purchase of a property at La Madeleine in the suburbs of Lille where he established his first Moulin Bleu bakery plant. He continued to expand both the Moulin Bleu and Paul businesses and broadened the reach of the business by acquiring sites in selected French cities. In 1993, Holder purchased

in Paris. Taking note of an emerging rustic trend for storefronts, he decided to reestablish the use of a traditional wheat in creating a new line of loaves. He is also responsible for the expansion of Paul into a previously untapped market of convenience stores in France, with the goal of creating mini-malls that would be called "Paul Villages." The concept was first tested in 1993 in

Marcq-en-Barœul Marcq-en-Barœul (; pcd, Marke-in-Bareul; older nl, Marke) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lille, and is immediately adjacent to it on the northeast. It is ...

(in Lille) and, with 1000 customers visiting the bakery daily, the next four years saw the development of three more in the North. In 2001 the company announced that they would be opening four more locations in the following nine months.

Personal life

Holder is the son of Suzanne Mayot and Julien Holder, who set up their home in a bakery on Rue des Sarrazins in Lille. He and his wife Françoise have three children who work in the business as well: Elisabeth, who is responsible for the development of Ladurée in Paris, Maxime, who directs the development of Paul International, and David, President of Ladurée and Vice President of Groupe Holder.

References

External links

Groupe Holder History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holder, Francis French chief executives Living people Officers of the Legion of Honour 1940 births