PAUL Azerbaijan
AUL is a family company built upon a foundation of time-honored production methods passed down for five generations. Our company is rich in history, family and the spirit of excellent, authentic bread.
Some important years in PAUL Bakery's exciting journey include:
1889
The Mayot family, a family of agricultural workers in the Artois region of Northern France, led by Charlemagne Mayot and his wife ran a small bakery located Rue de la Mackellerie in Croix, near Lille. His son Edmond Mayot took over the family business in 1908.
1935
Suzanne Mayot, daughter of Edmond Mayot and granddaughter of Charlemagne Mayot, married Julien Holder. They set up a bakery located Rue des Sarrazins in Lille.
1953
Suzanne and Julien's son Francis Holder began working with his parents who, by then, had taken over a famous bakery-patisserie belonging to the PAUL family at Place de Strasbourg in Lille. The PAUL name was retained.
1958
Julien Holder passes away, and his son Francis took over the family bakery in Lille with his mother and began to develop the business. “We were well known for our wide range of so-called 'Viennese' breads - the fancy breads that you can still buy in our shops today - at a time when most people only knew and liked white bread."
1972
Francis renovated the family bakery in Lille, and without realizing the effect this would have, installed a wood-fired oven that operated in full view of customers. A simple idea qualified by Francis as “common sense”, yet quite innovative for the time, seeing bread made in this purely traditional fashion: kneading, proving, shaping, finishing, long fermentation, baking, etc, allowed customers to rediscover the quality and taste of quality bread and would be an important contribution to the establishment's success.
1993
Francis Holder hoped to re-enliven PAUL and added two new components to the business; the now famous black store fronts and the development of a rustic line of specialty breads using sustainably produced winter wheat.
2005
Francis Holder appoints his children to lead the company and nominates son Maxime as CEO of PAUL Bakery. Maxime still leads the company to date.
2009
PAUL celebrates its 120 year anniversary and renews the company's commitment to providing fresh bread, baked daily using traditional, time-honored methods, by introducing the “Charlemagne” baguette to honor founder Charlemagne Mayot.
2011
PAUL Bakery opens in Washington, DC and prepares to blanket the city in the smell of freshly baked breads and the flavors of flaky, buttery croissants.