Nearly 150 years of existence, seven stores, four cities and two million macaroons sold each year. The reputation of the Jean Trogneux chocolate factory is well established. The products of the family house are very popular with the inhabitants of Amiens, where the historic store is located, as well as chocolate lovers from all over France.
At Les Trogneux, we work as a family. Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, pastry baker, opened his first shop in 1872 in the city center of Amiens, in Picardy. His son, Jean, then took over the business. Three other “Jeans” took over from father to son at the head of the chocolate factory: Jean, Brigitte Macron’s father, Jean-Claude, his brother, then Jean-Alexandre, his nephew.
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For more than thirty years, Jean-Alexandre Trogneux, great-great-grandson of the founder, took over the management of the house. Had he asked, from an early age, to occupy this post? “Absolutely not,” he explained to Planet.fr. Despite his place as “heir” within the dynasty, this family was not the one he had originally chosen.
Initially embarked on a completely different path, he saw his plans contrary. “My grandfather had to be carried out and asked me to replace him for three months. I stayed and I have been here for more than thirty years”. After a year of companionship in all the chocolate factories in France, Jean-Alexandre Trogneux joined the company before taking the reins. “Working as a family is difficult, but it’s an interesting job with different hats: creation, chocolate making, banker, manager,” he says.
Seven stores in Amiens, Arras, Saint-Quentin and Lille
The family dimension is therefore part of the identity of the Trogneux house. Another major feature: the city of Amiens. It is indeed around the first shop installed in the center of the Picardy town, in the district near the Town Hall, that the company developed.
Shops were subsequently opened in several towns in Hauts-de-France, in Arras, Saint-Quentin and Lille, but the Trogneux house has remained faithful to Amiens where all the products are made on site. For the rest of France, mail order sales are available on the chocolate factory website.
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If the Trogneux house is so famous in the region, it is because of its flagship product, the Amiens macaron. “The recipe was invented by my great-grandfather (Jean Trogneux, second generation, editor’s note)”. It is even rumored that this Picardy specialty made with almonds, honey and egg whites is one of the president’s favorite cakes. He had proposed it himself in an interview conducted by France 2 in November 2015. “No family boredom”, added Emmanuel Macron to justify his choice for the macaroon, jokingly.
To perpetuate the tradition, a new “Jean” at the head of the chocolate factory?
And then ? Father of two children, the chocolatier from Amiens plans to one day give the keys to the house to one of them. The first name of his eldest son also seems to predestine him to take the helm of the family business like his ancestors: Jean-Baptiste.
The owner of the confectionery is also considering another solution that would slightly shake up tradition: moving from a house from father to son to that from father to…daughter. “A little change,” he comments, referring to his youngest daughter, Margaux. In either case, Jean-Alexandre Trogneux intends to act differently from previous generations and “wait for it to come from them”.
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The arrival in politics of Emmanuel Macron, married to Brigitte Trogneux, great-granddaughter of Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, founder of the house, has it had consequences on the crowds in the shops? We won’t know.
Jean-Alexandre Trogneux explained to us that he would not comment on issues that directly or indirectly affect the presidential couple. “A rule set within the family,” he says. Probably a way to separate professional and family life.
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