EXPERTISE

You can hear some funny noises inside La Maison du Biscuit every night in Sortosville-en-Beaumont... When the clock strikes midnight, Fabrice puts almost 30 years of experience into making the cookies, palets, cat's tongues and other treats such as the brand's signature petits fours financiers.

Now it's Kévin Burnouf leading the dance. He took over the business after his apprenticeship in the Manche where he was awarded first place as a “pâtissier méritant”. His attention to detail and quality haven't faltered since. He fuels the brand philosophy every day and relies on his team who work hard to put a smile on customers' faces.

As day breaks, it's John, Paul, Thierry and Antoine's turn to take to the stage: they carefully start making the little cakes, amandines and lady's fingers that are still made using early 20th century machines. "They help La Maison du Biscuit to protect its traditional expertise", Kévin Burnouf may say. And there's no way the 5th generation of the family would mess with it as that's why the company's been so respected and successful for over 100 years!

Finally, the biscuit ballet can begin: Véronique, Sylvie, Carine and Florence are raring and ready to go at 7am to the sound of the conveyor belt starting up. Then an armada of biscuits appear ready for packing. A quick quality test: they pop a biscuit in their mouths and decide the batch's fate with their finely-tuned palettes and unrivalled experience. Some say greedy, others say foodie... either way!

Now the long-awaited biscuits can start being boxed up.

At the end of this precise series of actions, Guillaume and Adrian pack orders to be shipped all over France that day.

Most of the eggs, flour, butter and other ingredients that go into our famous recipes come from the Normandy area* from professionals who share our passion for tradition. La Maison du Biscuit uses "natural preservatives" such as honey from a Manche-based beekeper or apple compote to extend the products' shelf life. They're delicious too.

“Our cakes are free of snake oil”

The more "exotic" flavours that go into our biscuits are hand-picked from the best places in the world i.e. Spanish almonds, Ceylon coconut and Piedmont hazelnuts.

Up to eight thousand boxes packed with little cakes leave the factory in summer. Half of them are sold in the shop within 24 hours.

The factory closes at 3pm after digesting five tons of ingredients: almost a ton of butter, a ton of flour, two and a half tons of sugar and so much more. It starts getting peckish a few hours later and gets going again.

In the meantime, whilst the almonds are sent to toast in the cooling ovens and toasted aromas fill the shop, Kévin heads to his little laboratory to concoct future recipes that will tickle La Maison du Biscuit customers' tastebuds. "Biscuits are tricky to get right so you need to strike the perfect balance between taste, appearance and storage." Like a chemist, he crosses things out and corrects things in his little recipe book as well as taking inspiration from the one passed down from his grandfather Maxime, the family figurehead.

His father couldn't be happier; Marc can see that he too has managed to pass the family passion onto his son. And he often says:

« Your grandfather would be proud if he could see how far we've come! »