La Maison du Chocolat ("The House of Chocolate") is a French chain of chocolate stores founded in Paris. It is a subsidiary of the French agribusiness group Groupe Savencia Saveurs & Spécialités.

History

In 1977, pastry chef Robert Linxe opened the first La Maison du Chocolat in Paris. Linxe was trained as a

chocolatier A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. Education and training Traditionally, chocolatiers, e ...

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, France and Switzerland. He later opened three more boutiques within Paris in 1987–1989, with a boutique in New York City opening in 1990. In 1995, Geoffroy d’Anglejan was named general manager of La Maison du Chocolat. In 1996, Nicolas Cloiseau began working for the chain, and Linxe later noticed his work and created a position for Cloiseau in product design. In 2007, the brand celebrated its 30th anniversary. D’Anglejan named Gilles Marchal as successor to Linxe. In 2012 d’Anglejan named Cloiseau to succeed Marchal with the title Master Chef. In June 2018, Guillaume Mazarguil became the CEO of La Maison du Chocolat.

Controversies

In July 2018, the French online investigative and opinion journal

Mediapart ''Mediapart'' is an independent French investigative online newspaper created in 2008 by Edwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief of ''Le Monde''. ''Mediapart'' is published in French, English and Spanish. ''Mediapart's'' income is solely derived ...

publishes an investigation according to a series of documents, issued by the French

Labour inspection The ''Inspection du travail'' (IT, ''Labour inspection'') is a French specialized body of civil servants, charged of the surveillance of employment and labour law in firms, created in 1892 during the Third Republic. History The Labour inspect ...

and the

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

, which relate practices of discrimination against one of its employees who complained in particular for acts of

workplace harassment Workplace harassment is the belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual worker or a group of workers. Recently, matters of workplace harassment have gained interest among practitioners and researchers as it is becoming one of the ...

and

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

within the company. The article refers to the case of another employee who was the victim of sexual harassment by another supervisor. Management of La Maison du Chocolat told Mediapart that the manager "''was immediately laid off as a precautionary measure''".

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maison du Chocolat Brand name chocolate Food and drink companies established in 1955 Food retailers of France French brands French companies established in 1955