A world pastry champion will open his shop in Eure-et-Loir

Have you dreamed of tasting their cakes without spending a fortune? This will be possible at the end of 2025. Alexis Beaufils, world champion of sweet arts in 2022, will open his pastry shop in Dreux (Eure-et-Loir). A project that he leads alone. His partner Florence Lesage – with whom he had won the world championship – was moving towards a new competition…

World champion Alexis Beaufils will open his pastry shop in Eure-et-Loir in 2025

Dreux, a town in which he had not planned to settle… then a meeting was decisive. The one with Pierre-Frédéric Billet, the mayor.

It was two years ago during the Miss Centre-Val de Loire competition. I had presented to him the idea I had of settling in the region.

Then, chance did things (very) well. “I left my previous job atHotel Brach in Paris on June 20. I traveled a lot for training all over the world, and it became too busy. The next day, June 21, the mayor of Dreux called me to meet me, he wanted to offer me premises. »

This premises is that of the former Public Treasury which until recently housed the municipal police.

I came there a few days later, and I really fell in love with the building. It’s been empty for a year.

The mayor quickly thought of Alexis Beaufils… “He wanted a craftsman for this location in the heart of the city. »

He owns his business

The pastry chef is proud to have convinced the city councilor, “he believed in my project”. Above all, its conditions were respected. “I was able to acquire the building, I wanted to be the owner. » Access to property which would have been more complicated towards Chartres, the city targeted at the start of its project. “But Dreux is a town that I like, there are many things to do. And above all, the challenge is even greater, I am a man of challenges. Nobody believes it! » The craftsman also thinks that the opportunity was too good. “The train was passing, you had to jump on it, when it passes once…”

The student of Bernard Holderformer pastry chef-chocolatier of La Loupe, did not refrain from opening a second store in Chartres…

Pastry classics revisited, but not high-end

Alexis wants to immediately remove the luxury label!

I’m a world champion, but I’m not here to do high-end, overpriced racing. People shouldn’t think that.

In his store, “we will find revisited classics. Lemon tart, a caramel-peanut cookie… It won’t be ordinary, but it will be accessible and of quality,” he promises.

Before adding with a smile, “and it will be pretty too, I have an image to work on”.

And it will be a pastry shop “that also makes bread.” But rather special plains, with sourdough… There will be snacks too.”

The pastry chef is recruiting for his future store

For the launch of her store (in fall 2025), Alexis plans to hire a ten people. “I have already found the heads of each department. I’m still looking for a few pastry chefs, I’ve received a lot of CVs. I will also recruit cooks and salespeople. »

Currently, the thirty-year-old leads several careers at the same time: that of a pastry chef obviously, but also a construction manager and finance. “I really like this part, the meetings with the banks. It’s important to be a good managerbecause you can be a world pastry champion, if that doesn’t make sense. »

Thanks to this project that he has dreamed of publicly for several years, “I grant myself freedom thanks to the work I have done since the start of my career. I could have found an employee position, but it was in the hotel industrywith every evening, weekends. I want this to be over!”

Training around the world

He also does not want to abandon what he is currently experiencing: transmitting his know-how to the four corners of the world. “This year, I went to Reunion, Mexico, Dubaiin Bahrain… “Travel is my second passion and I don’t want it to stop. There, I leave for Asia with Taiwan and Hong Kong. I really like their desire to work there. »

By relying on a close guard in his image, for his store, Alexis will be able to continue his training internationally. “I signed a contract with the Ritz-Carlton to Dubai, to go there four times a year, and make desserts to put my name on the map. »

Experiences abroad, “but I do lots of things in France too. There, soon, I will be at the CFA in Chartres for a course on blueberry pie. A pie that I make for Dubai. »

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