Jean-Luc Albin
Maurice French Pastries
Metairie LA
http://www.mauricefrenchpastries.com
The world of food has carried Jean-Luc Albin from France to America by way of Bermuda and through a series of jobs in large operations and small. Some might be surprised to find the former hotel food and beverage director now running a bakery in a suburb of New Orleans — but not Albin himself.
To be the owner, not just the employee: That was burned into his heart as a goal since his youth in Briancon in the French Alps. Albin´s father was a talented chef, and the boy was barely fifteen when he decided to follow in his dad´s footsteps. He worked in small resort hotels in the south of France, signed on as a three-year apprentice in Marseilles as soon as he was old enough, then got a job in a classical kitchen.
Albin credits the legendary chef Alexandre Chabert, and the time spent with him at Tain l´Hermitage with helping turn a youthful experience into career commitment. A mere six months later, Albin was ready to head for Paris — not just to the City of Light, but to the Georges V Hotel, where he remained for five years.
Those years at one of the world´s most famous properties served as the resume that would make possible much of what happened next. Albin made it as far west as Bermuda to serve as chef at the Southampton Princess, then on to Atlanta to take a job at the Omni International. He was only 26 when the Fairmont brought him to New Orleans as executive chef, eventually promoting him to director of food and beverage.
Albin later moved on to the Fairmont in Dallas, also as food and beverage director, then on to Los Angeles as executive assistant to the chairman of Filmland Corporate Center, headquarters for MGM/UA Studios. Before long, he was that company´s chief of operations and building manager, as well as overseeing Five-Star Catering Company as general manager and vice-president.
What lured Albin back to New Orleans was the chance to serve as food and beverage director at the Windsor Court Hotel, the city´s most highly rated property. But what kept him in town, with his wife Marlene, his son Jean-Henri, and his daughter Lilli Margaux, was the chance to buy Maurice French Pastries and take over the highly-rated patisserie in the suburbs.
Quickly growing the operation, Jean-Luc created a coffee shop inside the bakery and expanded to provide pastries for many of the restaurants and shops in New Orleans. Maurice´s French Pastries trucks are everywhere in the city, delivering the very good ‚“goods. ‚“ Katrina took it away; Jean-Luc rebuilt and reopened. Now Jean-Luc not only excels at producing the best pastries he knows how to make, he also has the satisfaction of being master of his own destiny. – And for him, that is a sweet treat indeed.
