Seen on TV, 10 out of 10 : on the La Soudanaise menu, two of the products offered all year round are stamped “2024 winner of the Poitou-Charentes region”. It's the salted butter caramel pancake and the L'Automnal bread, initially designed only for the holidays: decorated with a leaf that has become a signature, the new version of the second had been imagined specifically for the culinary reality TV show The best bakery in France on M6.
The only business in the commune of Soudan, which supports ten professionals, is riding high on its national final broadcast at the end of June 2024: the pair formed by Julien Robert, the 32-year-old manager, and Simon David, 26 years old , had finished in the top 12. The tandem had first won the Picto-Charentaise week, with its average of 9.3 out of 10 obtained during its inaugural duel against the Maison Aanzour de La Chapelle-Saint-Laurent: the four notes are always clearly visible at the entrance to the artisanal bakery and pastry shop.
When I have kids, I'll show them the show!
Julien Robert, manager of the La Soudanaise bakery and pastry shop, Sudan
Met eight days before Christmas, seven months after the very first of its programming in the eleventh season of The best bakery in France, Julien Robert confirmed that he saw « encore » curious people push the door, declaring: “It’s the ones that were on TV! »
Boosted attendance
The prophecy of the Endemol France film crew, that of attendance and therefore systematically boosted turnover following an appearance on M6, was verified: “Over the period June, July and August, we did one more month,” summarizes the boss from Sainte-Éanne. The Autumn, the “favorite” from pastry chef Noëmie Honiat, it flows “around twenty per week”. Et “we exploded in pastries”.
La Soudanaise had customers who arrived from Indre-et-Loire: they “exited the highway” when they were in the area. There were Rochelais and Vendéens too. It remains that “It calmed down at the end of the summer.” Even though monthly sales still record “an increase of at least 10%”.
“In two or three years”
While recognizing that“there was better”, the duo thinks that they lacked the automatisms to go further: on a daily basis, “we work together, but each in their own position, develops Julien Robert. Everyone has their own way of analyzing.” Yes, bounces back Simon David, refine “cohesion” in competition could be the key. Because the manager has ” envy “ to relish the experience, “in two or three years” with a ladle: for this, “we need to set up another company, it’s in the pipeline…”
The notes gleaned at the end of the inaugural passage of La Soudanaise in “The best bakery in France” always feature prominently at the entrance to the business.
© (Photo NR)
Until then, the craftsman will follow season 12 of the program, which begins on Monday January 6, 2025: but “maybe not as much as the last one!” » Ten days before our new meeting, he and his wife, Marine Amilien, immersed themselves in the show filmed in his store: “We talk about it regularly… When I have children, I’ll show them! »
Three recently decorated young employees
Described as a competition beast, Julien Robert, the manager of La Soudanaise who was one of the best young bakers in France in 2009, pushes his young employees, apprentices in the lead, to measure themselves against other professionals in competition: “ It is important that they take part in competitions, to gain self-confidence. Even without a positive result, there are still good memories. » Thus, three of its employees have distinguished themselves in recent weeks: after Donovan Charron, second in the regional competition for the best young baker in France in Poitiers, and Manon Gauffriaud, gold medalist in pastry-confectionery at the end of the 48e final of Nouvelle-Aquitaine of the Olympiads des professions in Bordeaux, it was Clémence Roux who recently developed the best brioche des Rois with AOP Charentes-Poitou butter from Deux-Sèvres. And Epiphany is from Sunday January 5, 2025.
