OUR
STORY
The first chapter of Maison Kayser’s story was written at 8 rue Monge on Friday 13 September 1996. It was the natural continuation of a journey started by a young man many years earlier
Born into a family of bakers, Eric Kayser inherited a taste for bread-making. He soon joined the Compagnons du Devoir, a French trade guild for skilled workers and artisans, where he learned traditional techniques and acquired a taste for developing and passing on knowledge.
Product development
and gluten-free products
Our story is still being written. To meet the expectations of our customers, we are continually improving our products to give them more taste, using ever more cutting-edge production methods and selecting the very finest ingredients. Since the end of 2013, our gluten-intolerant customers have been able to enjoy our products thanks to the gluten-free range offered by some of our Parisian bakeries or delivered to your door.
Making bread great again
At the beginning of the 1990s, very few people thought that high-quality bread would ever make a comeback. Eric Kayser did. He put his faith in creating so-called “traditional” bread made from additive-free French wheat flour using specially selected wheat and levain – a live fermenting agent that improves the bread’s taste and shelf life. For ten years he taught at the Institut National de la Boulangerie-Pâtisserie (INBP) and then set up his own consulting business. His aim was to share his knowledge and skills with bakers all over the world. Since then, his methods have been reproduced all over the world and French craftsmanship has reached every corner of the globe.
In 1994 he invented the Fermentolevain, a machine that allows liquid levain to be kept at a constant temperature and makes it easier to use. This was the cornerstone of ?ric Kayser’s success and his quest to create bread with a creamy interior, all the flavour of cereal and dried fruit and an excellent shelf life.
Building a global business with an artisan flavour
Eric Kayser has successfully shared his vision of baking with the rest of the world by creating a truly global business. In every country, our products reflect local culture and tastes. Although the Monge baguette remains one of Maison Kayser’s flagship products, elsewhere bread takes on different shapes and flavours. It may be softer, more colourful or smaller. But our expertise, choice of high-quality ingredients and use of liquid levain remain the same everywhere.
Maison Kayser’s international expansion begain in 2001 in Japan. Now Japan is the Maison’s second largest market, with around thirty stores operating there. The commitment and talent shown by the Japanese bakers and chefs has been an inspiration to the group’s many employees, whether in France, Portugal, the Philippines, the USA, Chile or elsewhere. C?te d’Ivoire, Hong Kong and New York have also joined the fold in recent years. Every minute, someone is enjoying one of our creations somewhere in the world, which is the challenge that keeps us going: a determination to share the love of good bread. For the future, Maison Kayser has set its sights on retaining its artisan baker status and proudly bearing the values it holds dear. Whether it’s in a transport hub like a station or an airport, a shopping centre or a high street, the recipe remains the same