Editorial nuggets: at the heart of ancient flours, with Matthieu Dalmais

Exactly one year after opening his first Boulangerie, focusing on ancient flours, on Avenue de Clichy in Paris's 17th arrondissement, head baker Matthieu Dalmais tells us about the first few months of life in his neighborhood, his clientele... and his obsession with bread quality. An opening that turned out to be a success, after the publication of an editorial article a few weeks after the opening in 2022.

This is how Matthieu Dalmais, Chef Pâtissier-Boulanger and co-founder of Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Jolie Miche, tells us about the impact of Sortir à Paris on his business. Discover the story of Matthieu and his partners Sébastien, Alexandre and Jules Taurynia, brothers and restaurateurs, who opened Jolie Miche in December 2023 .

After just one year in business, the bakery and patisserie has achieved the kind of success that is so rare at this time of year: open consecutively even in August, some products on back-order, major developments to come in the patisserie... the partners are already considering expansion and plans for a second location.

"Good traditional baguettes aren't to be found around here" or "There's a lack of an affordable bakery-pastry shop that does everything". That's what the locals - those who know this western part of Avenue de Clichy, on the border between the Epinettes and Batignolles districts - might have said, before Jolie Miche, a "traditional" bakery-pastry shop, opened in early December 2022...but not only! The aim of Matthieu Dalmais, his associates and his team is clear: to offer the highest quality product possible, with the best know-how, in the most affordable way . Despite the current climate, bakery is an everyday product that must remain affordable for Jolie Miche: "the heart of our bakery is traditional bakery".

Excellent training, a well-thought-out project... and a location she fell in love with

The entrepreneurial adventure was always his initial project, right from school, at the Institut Bocuse. But Matthieu Dalmais, an ambassador for things well done, felt that before taking the plunge, he had to feel comfortable with my know-how as a baker-pastry chef: "when you're starting out, you're so busy with other things that the technique has to be fluid and logical. So it took about ten years before it became a reality." And you need the right people to partner with, an opportunity, fate, chance...

As for the choice of the area(17th arrondissement, Avenue de Clichy, on the border of the Epinettes and Batignoles districts), the Chef quickly explains that he knew it, "because I had lived here when I arrived in Paris". What's more, when the project began to develop, it was the 9th arrondissement that was mentioned... Then, the four partners went in search of another business: "we fell in love with this place, the space, the location". We especially liked the idea of being on the Epinettes side and facing Batignolles, so as to have a heterogeneous clientele.

In fact, it's a district in a state of upheaval that was looking for its daily bread, with the recent extension of line 14 to Porte de Clichy, the Court of Justice... There's plenty of office space all around, and as you cross the ring road, you'll find hotels, including Europe's biggest Ibis. "We like the area, the shops are expanding and there was a lack of a traditional French bakery. There are a lot of good artisans in Batignolles, but fewer in this neighborhood: mostly sourdough, on old flours like we wanted to do."

It's this neighborhood that makes Jolie Miche's clientele so varied: offices, families, tourists... "We're lucky to have a store that's alive all the time, with no big slumps even in August it was interesting to open, amazing especially for a first year in business."

Old-fashioned flours, and products to suit her customers: Regularity, Quality and Price

"At the beginning, for example, I wanted to try not to make baguettes at all: in terms of productivity it's hard to take on, it's an employee who only does that all day, from an economic point of view it's not profitable with the old-fashioned flours we only advocate."
It's not widely known, but for all the bakeries that make quality flours, the difference in the cost of flour is enormous when making a baguette with traditional flour: between the classic, where you pay 30 centimes, and the traditional at 1.60 euros per kilo, the price ratio is enormous. The same goes for croissants: with the rising price of butter, they are also time-consuming in terms of productivity. But as the Boulanger explains, "these are our must-haves: the baguette and croissant remain a flagship product, but not at all in terms of sales!"

"There has to be something for everyone's wallet, and those are our objectives: we want to make a baguette with the right organic flours, a good fermentation that won't make you sick. Alongside this, we also have our even higher-quality products, with ancient flours, nutritional benefits and taste quality, which also bring new know-how and techniques to the table."

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In terms of favorite products , the neighborhood's varied clientele demands baguettes, sourdough bread, and tourists, baguettes, chocolate bread and croissants, hot chocolate... "And baguette sandwiches, which we make with ham and butter in a simple way and with good products: ham, butter with old-fashioned mustard for a more worked side that stands out."

A human story, impossible without building a solid team...

When we opened, some of the team had no experience: our baker had retrained as a pastry chef and had never worked in the bakery! He was looking for a job, and I only had one position for a baker, so he took it, trained himself and off we went: let him acquire this know-how and then train those who come along.
I'm assisted by a sous-chef Pâtissier, in the person of Shun Takahashi (main illustration photo and above), with whom I've worked for 8/9 years, who takes charge of all the Pâtisserie side of the business , in full development, and allows me to concentrate on running the whole store.
I also have a sales team managed by Eliott, made up of Katia and Jessica.

... And then there's the lesser-known role that keeps this whole district and the north of Paris running: delivery.

"We deliver baguettes and pastries to many hotels and restaurants in the 17th, 8th, 9th and 12th arrondissements, but only to the right bank at the moment. It's a big logistical job and time-consuming for the rounds: we work with sourdough, so we have a 48-hour time lag for the volume to be produced, but it pays off. Our deliveries represent more than 50% of the bakery part of our turnover. Our pastry business is also doing really well: we have to deliver 150 pastries a day. Even with our lab, which is small, and which we're looking to expand with premises in the pâté de maison ideally!"

The decisive meeting with Sortir à Paris

"Recently, we've mostly had brands asking us for collaborations, and on the articles side some nice treatments from Le Figaro, and Elle à Table, as well as a few influencers who dropped by at the beginning at our opening."
But first of all, Matthieu Dalmais and his team met My, journalist at Sortir à Paris, a few weeks after their opening.
"We knew Sortir à Paris with a personal link for good tips, things to do... I'd type in "what to do in Paris this weekend", but not in a professional capacity! My took the time to ask lots of questions, to be interested in our project, with beautiful photos, a very complete article. That's what helped us so much when we opened, from the very next day and for a whole month. Then the article was updated and reposted and again we saw a direct repercussion!" People from the neighborhood telling us how they found us via Sortir à Paris, but also coming from the 14th and 15th for bread and cakes. Customers who come from afar tell us in the Boulangerie that, even if our interaction is short, they take the time to chat!

A promising future based on a simple but crucial value: regularity.

"We're developing slowly, we're out of stock on certain products or we're increasing volumes, there's work to be done by our sales team to get people tasting and discovering products."

In the pipeline for the boutique: recruitment after the holidays, including proposals for their apprentices. And we're also looking into new avenues of development: B2B boutiques, opportunities... "We have prospects in the l'arrondissement district, staying on the right bank to manage several businesses in a nearby geographical area or Clichy, Saint-Ouen, Asnières, Gennevilliers...We're waiting to stabilize this business there, within 2 years to train all the teams the managers."

Jolie Miche, then, is a fine story of teamwork, flour tradition and bakery know-how: what Matthieu Dalmais sums up are simple but clear values : quality, consistency and regularity: "Customers aren't fooled, and when something goes wrong, our regulars obviously point it out to us: so regularity in the quality of flagship and everyday products." A fine program for this second year ahead!