Maison de Création Parisienne Depuis 1977
35 chocolatiers led by 1 chef créateur
A legacy perpetuated by 35 artisan chocolatiers, trained to excellence by Nicolas Cloiseau, Chef Créateur and Meilleur Ouvier de France. Each artisan maintains the art of chocolate as a unique skill, crafting it with meticulous care. Their hands, trained in the authenticity of the recipe, reflect the founder's philosophy: pure, uncompromising chocolate, where each ingredient is chosen with rigor and respect in a never-ending quest for perfection and passion.
Nicolas Cloiseau
Chef de La Maison du Chocolat, Meilleur Ouvrier de France
As a chef créateur, Nicolas is the talented interpreter of La Maison du Chocolat, knowing its every secret. Having joined over twenty years ago under Robert Linxe, he has never left. His freedoms define the spirit of all la Maison's creations since 2012. Love, art, and technicality—this is how he describes his relationship with chocolate. A material like no other, he summons it with a gesture, so intimately are their destinies linked. He works and imagines the chocolate of tomorrow, attentive to every detail, with perfection and precision as his guiding principles.
His favorite chocolate? The Noir de Cassis.
Nicolas Decorde
Responsable des Intérieurs
Nicolas is in charge of crafting the fillings for the chocolates. It is up to him (and his team) to achieve the perfect blend of cream, butter, and chocolate varieties. He is responsible for the perfect texture. The approximately 30 recipes for pralines and ganaches hold no secrets for him. Assembling, mixing, spreading, and manually smoothing on marble slabs, all the fillings are the result of careful attention and precision. These gestures, repeated a thousand times, have been performed daily for 26 years with the same concentration.
His favorite chocolate? The Quito.
Cyril Roland
Responsable du Détaillage
Cyril is in charge of the "detailing" of chocolates. He and his teammates hand-cut the slabs of ganaches and pralines into chocolate bonbons using actual guitar strings, earning them the nickname "chocolate musicians." This crucial step in chocolate making requires technical skill, precision, and special attention to perform this ballet of synchronized movements.
His favorite chocolate? The Crêpe Dentelle Twig.
Maxime Lecourtier
Responsable des Pesées
Maxime is responsible for weighing the ingredients for ganache and praline recipes. Concentration and precision are the key words in this role, as this is where all our recipes begin. Each ingredient is weighed to the exact gram before the chocolate bonbons are made. There is no room for approximation or interpretation; all subsequent steps depend on this initial one. Taste requires great rigor and strict adherence to the recipes.
His favorite chocolate? The Quito.
Vanthong Venevongsa
Opératrice Enrobage
Vanthong works on coating and decorating the chocolates. This is where the chocolate and praline fillings are covered with a thin layer of dark or milk chocolate called "couverture." They are then decorated, one by one, by hand, using a fork or a piping bag. This decoration "signs" each chocolate individually, making it easier to recognize in a box. This highly manual step requires a particular meticulousness that she has mastered.
Her favorite chocolate? The Bohème and the Sylvia, impossible to choose.
Nicolas Lebon
Responsable D'Équipe Pâtisserie
Nicolas is in charge of the pastry team. Along with Alex, he coordinates the artisanal production of entremets, éclairs, and macarons in our workshop in Nanterre, just a few kilometers from our Parisian boutiques. His pastry chefs skillfully handle the ingredients, blending not just one type of chocolate, but several in a single dessert. This precise expertise pays homage to the fundamentals of chocolate making, continually redefining the art of ganache.
His favorite chocolate? The Guayaquil.
Emmanuel Floux
Responsable de Poste
Emmanuel is in charge of the more miscellaneous products of la Maison. Chocolate bars, candies, and chocolate-covered fruits are continuously produced in the chocolaterie; here gourmandise prevails. With his team, he creates these delightful treats every day, which are both nostalgic and addictive, adding an extra touch of sweetness to the iconic chocolate boxes of the Maison.
His favorite chocolate? The Bohème.
Ronan Garcia
Chef de Projet R&D
Ronan is responsible for orchestrating the production of la Maison's newest creations. A trained chocolatier, he coordinates the development of recipes conceived and perfected by our chef, Nicolas Cloiseau, bringing them to life on a larger scale. As a perfect interpreter, he masters all techniques, textures, and flavors, from the simplest to the most complex. Precision and consistency are his watchwords.
His favorite chocolate? The Quito.
Laurent Durand
Responsable Atelier Chocolaterie
Laurent is responsible for the chocolaterie. Like a conductor, he oversees the 100% artisanal production by his chocolatiers and ensures the smooth operation of all manufacturing stages. He is in charge of all the organization prior to production. His guiding principles are a sense of priorities, team spirit, and the expertise he is passionate about passing on to everyone.
His favorite chocolate? The Roasted Coconut Twig.
Sébastien Gallois
Responsable Produits Divers
At La Maison, Sébastien is in charge of diverse products, "diverse" which could be translated as particularly addictive and nostalgic treats. With his team, he daily creates delights, coated fruits, and other chocolate confections. These delicacies require precision, respect, and expertise, which he carefully passes on to the chocolatiers around him.
His favorite chocolate? The Quito.
Nicolas Trombetta
Responsable Enrobage
Nicolas is in charge of coating. He and his team handle one of the final stages of chocolate candy production, which they sign manually with individual decorations. This is where the chocolate and praline fillings are coated with a thin layer of dark or milk chocolate called "couverture." They are then decorated, one by one, by hand, using a fork or a piping bag. They add the final touch of craftsmanship unique to the Maison.
His favorite chocolate? The Bohème.
Mikael Collet
Responsable Décor
Mikael is in charge of the decoration atelier. It is a true craftsman's work that he performs at this position. Along with his team, he interprets and creates all the artistic pieces of the collections imagined by Nicolas Cloiseau. Drilling, perforating, piercing, and scalloping chocolate into its finest expressions. In the decoration atelier, the plasticity of chocolate lends itself to all sorts of whims. Like a haute couture gesture, all creations require several hours or even weeks of work to sculpt pieces with such ephemeral decorations.
His favorite chocolate? The Bohème.
Alex Bodereau
Responsable Atelier Pâtisserie
Alex is in charge of the pastry atelier. He coordinates the entire team that daily creates all the pastries sold in our boutiques. Accuracy and precision are his watchwords in the workshop. Entremets, éclairs, macarons, and even bûches de Noël hold no secrets for him. He possesses pâtissier expertise that pays homage to the fundamentals of chocolaterie and continually redefines the art of ganache.
His favorite chocolates? The fruity ganaches: Maracuja, Salvador, Andalousie.
Alexis Daguet
Adjoint Création Chocolat
As a chocolatier in the creation atelier, Alexis is the right-hand man of Nicolas Cloiseau. Together, they work on the chocolate of tomorrow. Daily and tirelessly, they create and develop new and ever more explosive combinations. Guided by the extreme precision of his chef, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, he is responsible for developing new chocolate bonbons and thematic artistic pieces.
His favorite chocolate? The Guayaquil.
Alexandre Duvert
Responsable de Poste Adjoint
Alexandre is the assistant poste manager. He describes himself as the "Swiss Army knife" of the chocolaterie. From fillings to detailing to coating, he knows all the secrets of production and knows how to provide support where and when it's needed. Moving from station to station, he shares his passion, technique, mastery of skills, and diverse expertise.
His favorite chocolate? The Guayaquil.
"We taste, we taste again, we savor, waiting for the moment when the chocolate seems to be just right. You have to discern the exact nuance, sometimes very subtle, that separates good from excellent, and then excellent from exceptional." Robert Linxe
Maison Historique
In the beginning, one thing was certain. Robert Linxe believed that chocolate deserved a prominent place among the most exquisite pleasures. It needed to be elevated, revealed and enhanced. In 1977, he established La Maison du Chocolat in Paris, at 225 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, and went on to elevate chocolate into an art form, a luxury, a delight for connoisseurs.
Today, his spirit guides every one of La Maison's creations. This savoir-faire is carried on by 35 artisan chocolatiers, trained in excellence by Nicolas Cloiseau, chef créateur and Meilleur Ouvrier de France. Each craftsperson nurtured the art of chocolate as a unique skill, crafted with meticulous attention to detail. Their hands, trained to capture the authenticity of the recipe, translate the founder's philosophy for pure, uncompromising chocolate, in which each ingredient is chosen with rigor and respect in a never-ending quest for perfection and passion.
Maison de Creation
At La Maison du Chocolat, innovation doesn't just surprise, it creates an experience. As initiated by Robert Linxe, La Maison's creative process embodies this pursuit of perpetual renewal. It never ceases to transform chocolate into a living material, opening up new avenues and rethinking recipes, even if that means shaking up established convention.
Creation is also an artistic signature, like a goldsmith's work with their material. In the decoration workshop, the chocolate is sculpted, modeled and pierced to play with light and transparency. It's an approach that flirts with art, giving chocolate a dimension that's as visually striking as it is architectural. Here, La Maison doesn't just surprise, its chocolate becomes a work of art in its own right.
Maison Parisienne
Paris is the birthplace, the playground and the main source of inspiration. La Maison du Chocolat was founded at 225 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris, opposite the Salle Pleyel concert hall. Robert Linxe did more than open a shop, he imagined a place, a world, a way of being. He paved the way for luxury without ostentation, and pleasure cultivated with elegance and simplicity.
To this day, La Maison du Chocolat embodies this delectable lifestyle, this elusive Parisian chic that is not proclaimed but conveyed in every detail. Timeless refinement, aesthetics that stand the test of time without every losing their desirability. In this insatiable quest for beauty and quality, its chocolate becomes a rare gift, chosen for what it expresses as much as for what it offers - a manifesto of flavor, elegance and pleasure.