Our story

Our story

In 1996, pastry chef and ice cream maker Fabrice Legagneur founded La Charlotte with one objective in mind: to revolutionize the world of ice cream and frozen pastries to provide its partners with premium products in large quantities.

Our production is done according to “règles de l’art” of great French pastry. We develop our recipes with passion in our workshop in Hesdin-l’Abbé, in the north of France and select our ingredients with care and rigor to offer you tasty and authentic desserts. More than 200 people, including many highly qualified pastry chefs, work at La Charlotte.

Our unique artisanal know-how allows us to offer our customers pastries and ice-cream that combine exception with innovation. Our expertise is thus recognized by selected partners such as:

  • Frozen retailers
  • Large and Medium-Sized supermarkets
  • Distributors in the out-of-home catering sector - Foodservice
  • Airlines
  • Amusement parks

Renowned clients have trusted us over the years:

Since 1996, some of our flagship products have made our reputation:

  • Ice creams
  • Holiday desserts
  • Cheesecakes
  • Custom cakes

Whether you are looking for an already prepared recipe or opt for a personalized creation, La Charlotte offers you an infinite range of flavors.

Senoble Group

French agri-food specialist since 1921, the Senoble Group became a shareholder of La Charlotte in 2013. This move allowed us to benefit from a great support for our international development.

Following our acquisition, the group took a decisive turn and, since 2017, has now focused on:

  • the frozen desserts and pastries through La Charlotte;
  • ultra-fresh desserts through the group’s second entity: Avi-Charente.

The Senoble Group’s objective is to become the leader in premium desserts, both in France and on the international stage.

Evolution and key figures

Since our creation, our history has been marked by numerous events. Here are the key milestones that have shaped La Charlotte into the company you know today:

1996

1996

La Charlotte is born

Fabrice Legagneur, pastry chef and ice cream maker, decides to launch his ambitious project: producing desserts in large quantities without compromising on quality, while respecting French artisanal know-how.

1998

1998

Building of the new factory

A 3 500 m² (4186 sq. yd) workshop in Hesdin-l’Abbé, in the north of France, to continue to design desserts combining exception and innovation.

2005

2005

Even more room!

Expansion of our factory to 9,000 m² (10764 sq. yd), and building of a negative cold storage room allowing the storage of 4,000 pallets.

2013

2013

Entry into the shareholding of Senoble Group

The group allows us to benefit from a valuable help to grow internationally.

2022

2022

Next stop export!

La Charlotte keeps on growing internationally by opening a commercial office in New York, USA.

This year

Thanks a million to

200

awesome employees

Who made possible the manufacture of

2000000

liters of Ice cream

1200000

sales unit sold

400000

Yule logs

100

tons of cheesecake

Straight from our laboratories

20

innovations

born of la Charlotte R&D

400

new product designs

created upon our clients’ request

Do you have a specific need?

See our custom products

Our unique and Recognized Expertise

Our many years of existence have allowed La Charlotte to develop a unique expertise, and recognized by numerous partners.

  • Betting on innovation

    Innovation is one of our strengths, and it is unanimously saluted by our clients. From our creation, we sought to revolutionize the world of premium desserts in order to satisfy our consumers both visually and taste-wise.

    Always in looking for new flavors and shapes, we make extensive efforts to continue surprising you. Each year, we develop nearly a hundred new recipes, showcasing our commitment to continuous innovation.

  • A reputed culinary expertise

    Our expertise has grown stronger over the years, allowing us to assert our know-how and develop numerous concepts inspired by various global trends.
  • Savoir-faire Made in France

    All our pastries and ice creams are crafted with respect for French tradition and expertise. With a team of 40 qualified pastry chefs and around a hundred operators, we work every day in our workshops in Northern France to offer you exceptional products.

Our culinary expertise

  • Specialist in ice cream and frozen desserts

    In the year 2022 alone, La Charlotte sold over 2 million liters of ice cream. To offer you exceptional ice creams and frozen desserts, we manufacture our products by combining respect for traditional French craftsmanship with innovation.

    As catering specialists, we provide:

    • Molded products
    • Holidays frozen desserts
    • Bulk ice cream, ranging from 80mL cups to 2.5L tubs, as well as other formats like 100mL, 120mL, or even 500mL cups
    • Individual scoops
  • Our pastry expertise

    Craving pastries? We offer a wide range of recipes that will take you on a journey. Our uniqueness? In addition to mastering French pastry craftsmanship, we are also trained in traditional American pastries. La Charlotte is thus the first French manufacturer of cheesecakes in terms of volume!

    As specialists in molded products with complex assemblies, our desserts come directly from our workshops in Northern France, where they are decorated by hand.

  • A great fit to your holidays gatherings

    We offer exceptional products for your holiday tables. Whether you are looking for a frozen dessert or a pastry, at La Charlotte, you’ll find a festive recipe to delight your guests.

    Throughout the year, discover our festive products, crafted around various themes (Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Halloween…).

  • Suitable for vegan diets

    You or some of your guests are vegan?

    No worries, we have your back! At La Charlotte, we understood this need for several years now.

    We have developed a whole range of products tailored to this dietary choice, taking on the challenge of creating vegan desserts that retain the taste and texture of traditional pastries.

Are you convinced?

See our expertise

Our international presence

Today, our products are designed and manufactured in our factory in Hesdin-l’Abbé, located in the north of France, before being sold in almost 18 countries.

In order to further our development in the American market, we opened our first commercial office in the United States in 2022.

Our commitments

High quality raw material

in order to offer you high-end products.

  • Ingredients selected rigorously

    to guarantee an intense and authentic taste.
  • Protected Designation of Origin

    Madagascar Vanilla, Beligan chocolate, Ireland cream cheese, Sicilia lemons…
  • Free-range chicken eggs

    for almost all our products.
  • Bovine gelatine

    suitable for Halal diets.
  • RFA/UTZ chocolate

    upon request.

    Find out more

  • Silicone molds

    to limit as much as possible our use of plastic and therefore reduce the risk of presence of extraneous matter in our products.

Some ingredients have been banned from our kitchen

In order to make us even more responsible, a vast majority of our products are :

  • GMO Free
  • Palm oil free
  • Hydrogenated fat free
  • Free of artificial coloring, preservatives and flavors

But also, La Chalotte is a committed team and human company.

Our Quality Policy

To offer you high-quality products and ensure compliance with regulations and our procedures, we have developed a strict quality policy.

La Charlotte’s QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment) policy aims to strengthen the food safety within the company at all levels.

It involves all employees to improve their working conditions through training and listening to the teams.

The goal is to guarantee our customers a high level of excellence in the desserts we supply. To achieve this, we standardize our working methods and thinking to be more efficient and competitive in our industrial model.

We continuously explore new horizons through innovation to maintain our leadership position in the production of premium ice creams and desserts.

We also seek to unite our suppliers around our goals and requirements to maintain control over risks at all stages of manufacturing. Finally, we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint by managing our waste and controlling our energy consumption.

Our certifications

Committed to offering you high-quality products, we have obtained several certifications:

  • Our site is certified IFS

    allowing us to guarantee both the safety and quality of the food we manufacture.
  • FDA Certification

    allowing us to export our products to USA.
  • Vegan Certification

    in the interest of dietary inclusivity.
  • Chocolate with RFA/UTZ label

    We are capable to use sustainable agriculture-derived chocolate with RFA/UTZ label.
  • FSC packaging

    ensures that they come from sustainably managed forests.

GOURMET DELIGHTS IN ONE CLICK

See our products

Our news

March 18, 2024

Alimentaria tradeshow 2024

We are delighted to inform you that La Charlotte is currently participating in the Alimentaria 2024 exhibition in Barcelona, along with the Avi-Charente team. Alimentaria is an international event for professionals in the food, beverage, and gastronomy industry. We look forward to sharing our products and expertise with you at this event.
December 16, 2023

Le Monde’s article

«Does Christmas makes you mouth water? The selection of the 15 best Yule logs out of 140 tasted»

It is with immense pride that we share the news: our Citrus Yule Log, the result of an exceptional collaboration with Chef Jeffrey Cagnes and Picard, ranks among the top 5 out of 140 Yule Logs evaluated by the prestigious newspaper ‘Le Monde.’ This recognition underscores the quality and excellence of our joint creation.

Read the article

November 26, 2023

News report on french TV

« Frozen holidays : Christmas rush to the king of Frozen food »

We are extremely proud to present this exceptional collaboration between the talented Chef Jeffrey Cagnes and our longstanding partner, Picard. Together, we brought the Citrus Yule Log to life, a creation as delicious as it is memorable. Discover the behind-the-scenes of this gourmet adventure in the exclusive report by Sept à Huit.