Biscuiterie Saint-Michel is a French food company, a subsidiary of St Michel Biscuits, which produces and markets dry pastries (cookies) under the St-Michel brand name. It was founded in 1905 in the coastal town of Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef, where is still standing the original factory. However, the headquarters have been relocated in Contres.
Saint-Michel produces a range of biscuits, exports them to about 30 countries, and offers store brand production services. The "Galette St Michel" biscuit, which has been produced since 1905, features the surname of the founder (Grellier).
History
At the beginning of the 20th century, a pastry chef named Joseph Grellier was making small golden biscuits in the village of Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef, to which he gave his name. The bakery opened in 1905, and Joseph Grellier, looking for a cookie that would keep for a long time, created Galettes Saint-Michel. His wife, Constance, decided to sell these cookies to the wealthy ladies of Paris who came to the sea baths at Tharon-Plage, a seaside resort belonging to the commune of Saint-Michel. The Saint-Michel brand was created that year.
In 1912, Joseph Grellier had a production workshop built opposite the bakery, in response to the growing success of his galette. This building is still the cookie factory's store today.
The cookies were industrially processed from 1919 onwards by their nephew, Félix Grellier , who founded Société Biscuits Saint-Michel. Production diversified with regional shortbread, Éventails d'or and Roudor Breton palets.
The cookie factory remained in the Grellier family until 1994, when it was acquired by the German group Bahlsen. It then became a Bahlsen subsidiary under the Bahlsen Saint-Michel brand.
Bamboula's Village (French: Village de Bamboula) was an attempt to recreate an Ivory Coast village within the Planète Sauvage zoo (then known as Safari Africain) in Port-Saint-Père, near Nantes, in France. It is considered the last[citation needed] human zoo in France.
In 1994, the biscuit brand Biscuiterie Saint-Michel teamed up with the safari park to create the village, naming it "Bamboula's Village" after its "Bamboula" chocolate biscuits, which had a black mascot with the same name (a racial slur, dating from colonial times). The village was constructed in the winter of 1993.
Anti-racist organisations and unions formed the group "Non à la réserve humaine" ["No to the Human Zoo"] and began legal action against the park. By the time that the court had sent an expert to document human-rights violations, the performers had been ordered out of the country. The village was closed in September 1994. The park had to pay a symbolic one French franc (€0.15) in damages, plus legal fees.
Processing methods and locations
Prior to its takeover by Morina Baie in 2006, Saint-Michel manufactured in three factories: Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef, the historic site, Commercy (Meuse) for madeleines, and Saint-Père-en-Retz. Today, products come out of the eight factories of the St Michel Biscuits group.
Biscuiterie Saint-Michel's food processing operations are certified Origine France Garantie, meaning that the majority of its activities and supplies are located in France.
A cookie or biscuit is a baked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat, and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, or nuts.
A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery.
Biscotti is the Italian plural term for any type of biscuit or cookie. However, in English biscotti is commonly used to refer specifically to cantucci, also known as biscotti di Prato or biscotti etruschi, which are Italian almond biscuits originating in the city of Prato, in Tuscany. These biscuits are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, crunchy, and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo. Smaller biscotti may be known as biscottini or cantuccini. In Italy, the term biscotti encompasses a wide variety of biscuits and cookies of different shapes, sizes, flavours, and fillings.
A macaron or French macaroon is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and often food colouring.
An animal cracker is a particular type of cracker, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or a circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear, or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, but darker chocolate-flavored and colorful frosted varieties are also sold. Although animal crackers tend to be sweet in flavor like cookies, they are made with a layered dough like crackers and are marketed as crackers and not cookies.
Pierre Hermé is a French pastry chef and chocolatier. He began his career at the age of 14 as an apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre. Called "the Picasso of Pastry" by Vogue, Hermé was awarded the title of World's Best Pastry Chef in 2016 by The World's 50 Best Restaurants. He was also ranked the fourth most influential French person in the world by Vanity Fair. In 1998, Hermé created his own brand with Charles Znaty. He has written or co-written over 40 books.
Contres is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France.
Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. Its inhabitants, known as Michelois, numbered 5,173 at the 2018 census.
Planète Sauvage is a zoological park situated in the French Atlantic coast, in Port-Saint-Père near Nantes, in the Loire-Atlantique departement. Founded in 1992 by Monique and Dany Laurent and known as the Safari Africain until 1998, it was then operated by the Compagnie des Alpes between 2005 and 2015. Since that date the park has been the property of the multinational company Looping Group, whose main shareholder is a Belgian private equity fund of the Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Its director is Philippe Vignaud.
Cyril Lignac is a French chef.
A gibassier is a French pastry from Provence, a galette made with fruited olive oil. It is generally spiced with anise, candied orange peel, and orange flower water, and dusted with baker's sugar.
Aalst Chocolate is a manufacturer of industrial chocolates and compounds, gourmet chocolates and related products. It was established in 2003 in Singapore, by Richard Lee and Connie Kwan, who are currently Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer respectively. They are the first chocolate factory to be fully owned and managed by Singaporeans.
Gaston Lenôtre was a French pastry chef. He is known as a possible creator of the opera cake, the founder of Lenôtre a culinary empire, whose brand includes restaurants, catering services, retail concerns and cooking schools, as well as one of the three founders with Paul Bocuse and Roger Verge of Les Chefs de France at Epcot in Orlando, Florida, US.
Andros is a French multinational food company, specialized in fruit and dairy products making. The company is based in Biars-sur-Cère, in the Lot department, near the touristic Dordogne region and the city of Brive-la-Gaillarde, Corrèze.
Bamboula's Village was an attempt to recreate an Ivory Coast village within the Planète Sauvage zoo in Port-Saint-Père, near Nantes, in France. It is considered the last human zoo in France.
Seastar Bakery was a bakery in Portland, Oregon, United States. Annie Moss and Katia Bezerra-Clark owned and operated the business, which shared a space with Handsome Pizza in northeast Portland's Vernon neighborhood starting in 2015. Seastar served breads, cookies, pastries, and toast, among other baked goods. Despite garnering a positive reception and being deemed one of the city's best bakeries by Eater Portland and Portland Monthly, Seastar closed in August 2022.
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