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
1998
1998
Building of the new factory
2005
2005
Even more room!
2013
2013
Entry into the shareholding of Senoble Group
2022
2022
Next stop export!
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
400
new product designs
Do you have a specific need?
See our custom productsOur 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 expertiseOur 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.
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 :
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 productsOur news
March 18, 2024
Alimentaria tradeshow 2024
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.