Baking&Snack - June 2014 - 36

GALAXY DESSERTS | BRIOCHE PASQUIER

Richmond's large storage freezer holds 700 pallets
of finished products. Everything made here goes out
frozen, except the brioche. It is received frozen and refreshed before distribution to stores where it is sold at
ambient temperature. The huge partially covered truck
dock that occupies one entire wall of the building comes
in handy when Galaxy ships holiday orders of frozen
croissants directly to consumers.
A cooler stores temperature-sensitive raw materials such as butter and eggs. The company buys almost
200,000 lb of cage-free eggs each year, delivered pasteurized in bulk, liquid and frozen forms. On an annual

The promise of brioche
What gives brioche, a rich egg-and-butter-laden French
specialty bread, so much potential? "We see brioche as
a harbinger of change in the American bakery market,
"
said Avi Hangad-O'Shaughnessy, marketing manager,
Galaxy Desserts.
Paul Levitan, Galaxy's president and CEO, confirmed,
"Brioche is an important innovation in the bread category.
"
First finding a home in high-end restaurants serving
pricy Wagyu beef burgers on brioche buns, this variety is
going mainstream, moving into quick-service restaurant
chains such as Wendy's and IHOP "They see the trend, Ms.
.
"
Hangad-O'Shaughnessy said.
Galaxy Desserts, which became part of Brioche Pasquier,
Europe's leading brioche producer, in 2012, is handling the
introduction of the brand in the US with four products in
the initial offering.
So, why Pasquier-style brioche? Jean-Yves Charon,
founder and pastry chef, Galaxy Desserts, explained,
"There's brioche, and there's real brioche. In many ways,
the brioche today is like the croissant in 1984. There are a
lot of people making it, but remember, it took 30 years to
get a quality croissant into the mass market.
"What Gabriel Pasquier's sons did 40 years ago was to
change brioche from a Sunday-only purchase by making
it affordable as an everyday item, Mr. Charon continued.
"
"We can do that in the US.
"
And this brioche is the genuine article, the real deal. The
Pasquier levain used at all 17 bakeries remains the same as
the original 1936 starter. The process, although highly automated, requires almost the same six hours of the original
manual method, which demonstrates how grounded the
company is, Mr. Charon observed.
As of early May, consumers could find Brioche Pasquier
products in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest,
according to Ms. Hangad-O'Shaughnessy. One chain now
stocks it in nine states, and the company recently added 80
independent stores throughout these regions.

36 Baking & Snack June 2014 / www.bakingandsnack.com

basis, the bakery uses more than 1 million lb of butter,
2 million lb of flour and almost a quarter-million lb of
chocolate in dark, milk and white styles.
"For every ingredient, we have a spec sheet," Mr.
Charon said. "Not only do our specs require kosher
certification, they also make sure ingredients fit our allnatural and non-GMO criteria." Company products are
now being certified by Non-GMO Project Verified.
How important is it to Galaxy to find just the right
ingredient? Consider the fact that line operators still
open consumer-size 20-oz cans of sliced pineapple
rings to make its highly popular, individually portioned
Pineapple Upside Down cakes. Mr. Levitan said they
tried pineapple rings in bulk packs, but only the consumer pack consistently delivers the size that best fits the
cups of its customized mini-bundt-cake pans.
The facility is inspected regularly by customers. And
it achieved SQF Level 2 certification for the third year.
"Yes, we are seeing more and more retailers require
SQF," Mr. Charon said.

Upping ante on croissants
A multi-million-dollar series of upgrades occurred at
the Richmond facility during the past year. The company added a new, high-speed croissant line, revamped its
packaging operations and installed a continuous mixing
and aeration system for mousse cakes.

Precise depositing of mousse keeps
individual layers smooth.
Lori Eanes

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking&Snack - June 2014

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