the essential
From this Monday, at 6:30 p.m., M6 broadcasts the national final of The Best Bakery in France. Our region will be represented by Yves Jehanne who runs the eponymous bakery and pastry shop in Balma.
From Monday, on M6, we will find you in the national final of the Best Bakery in France. Is being among the 24 finalists already a small victory?
It’s a great pride to represent the region, so it’s a first victory. We will give everything during this final to go as far as possible.
During this week, you will meet the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) baker Bruno Cormerais. What did he bring you?
What is good about the MOF charter is that they are always there to push the profession upwards. They always have a good outlook and good advice. Their compliments are a real pleasure, as is their very positive feedback on our work. This also applies to the members of the jury, who are also very qualitative. We are very happy when we see that they felt mastery in our preparations because that was our key word.
There was also among the jurors Michel Sarran from Toulouse whom you already knew from having worked for him. Thanks to the show, have you become his bread supplier in his Michelin-starred restaurant?
Indeed, this is what is planned. It turns out that he was looking for a new baker, we offered him bread flavors for his restaurant. This should fall into place following the broadcast.
What impact does the show have on your business?
The week following the first broadcast, our activity doubled the day after the broadcast. We are talking about +30 to +50% of our activity depending on the day. Knowing that weekends are always busier. We even saw people from Arcachon, Lille, Metz, Paris… passing through the region who wanted to visit our store.
Compared to this week, did you anticipate this overcrowding?
Totally. We anticipate our orders for raw materials from our flour mill, our implementations… We are ready to welcome all the people who will come to taste our products. The creations presented in the show will be available on site the next day.
Do your customers support you?
Yes, we had a huge wave from our regulars who encouraged us. There is a lot of love and sharing, they were really involved in our participation, it made us enormously happy. We also had new customers who came specifically to tell us that they had seen us on TV. We thanked a lot of people on the networks.
What do you personally gain from this television experience?
Really, a great human adventure with my partner Rémy Empudia. We really did this competition in order to promote his work as a touring baker and mine as a pastry chef – cook. We were very complementary, this allowed us to strengthen the bonds between us. Then, it allowed us to see how the best craftsmen in each region work. Being together in the same place for a week was great. It was a fulfilling experience, we had a lot of fun.
If we had to redo it ?
We would do the same because we knew how to show our DNA. I have been preparing with a mental coach called Aurélien Chapeau-Théric since September 2023. He allows me to develop personally in my way of approaching my entrepreneurial spirit, of managing my teams… This is bearing fruit because for a long time doors opened, the work on myself allowed me to be better with my teams and in my family balance… In the end, we are very proud of the result.
