The Tarn-et-Garonnais of 2021: Carole Bertrand, pastry chef and company

The smile, the passion, the creativity, the technique, the family spirit… Carole Bertrand ticks all the boxes of the accomplished pastry chef, and all this with unfeigned humility. At 35, she runs the Sweet Délices boutique in the North area of ​​Montauban and employs 3 employees. But this is only the beginning of the adventure for the one which has recently proven its worth at the international level.

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This Tarn-et-Garonnaise for 13 years was not, however, originally intended to amaze young and old with its cakes. It was first as a mortgage broker that she began her career. She will also go on her own with her husband, Cyril, with whom she now has 18 years of union. But in 2015, the young woman changes course. She begins her professional retraining with a trip across the Atlantic. It was in Toronto, Canada, that she trained for three months in cake design. On returning home, she enrolled in the CFA de Montauban in CAP Pâtisserie.

I don’t like them calling me boss, that bothers me. They do it sometimes, but for fun, in the right atmosphere.

And in this new life project comes a happy event. Little Clara is born on December 28. “In the photos of the work in the shop there is the bassinet,” Cyril recalls. Because yes, Carole has added a new challenge: to open her own store. She has not yet graduated, but is already banking on her success. “I had assessed my level during the CAP, and I told myself that I was not too bad. It’s true that it was an intense time. With all that, I lost more than my pregnancy weight, ”she laughs. “It really is a family adventure. Clara accompanied us all the way. Today she asks to bake cakes, tutorials with us. She even asks me if she can help me put it on the shelves. I am really happy to see it blossom with us, ”adds the pastry chef.

A boutique that combines concepts

It was therefore in July 2016 that Sweet Délices opened in Montauban. Alone at the start, the team has grown over the years. “We work as a family, it’s the same with the employees. Our management is more a collegial atmosphere than a directive. Besides, I don’t like them calling me chief, that bothers me. They do it sometimes, but for fun, in the right atmosphere, ”she says. Cyril Bertrand also converted to communication to complete the family picture. He joined his wife in November 2018, and began an overhaul of the website as well as the development of social networks. “We show the progress of the cakes ordered in the story, people can follow the confection as it goes. It shows that it’s homemade, and that there is a price but that it is justified, ”he explains.

In their shop, they therefore sell pastry items, bake cakes to order, but also run workshops. Here again, the family spirit is essential. “We make parent-child pairs, adult lessons, children’s lessons, and adult duos, all levels. Everything we do here can be done at home. The equipment is the traditional oven, the microwave… No need for the € 1,000 robot. In the workshop they are like in their kitchen. People also come back for the atmosphere, ”says Carole Bertrand. “For a duo it costs € 35.

In Toulouse it’s 55-60. The idea is that everyone benefits, not that it is reserved for people who can afford the expensive cakes and workshops, ”adds her husband. Finally, the lovers launched the “Délices box, a ready-to-bake box that we send during school holidays, with two recipes, one for parents, one for children. We put the dry ingredients, pre-weighed, and manual activities, coloring to occupy the children during the cooking. It’s a moment of family sharing, ”they detail.