Meet Julien Renaut | Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julien Renaut“ and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julien, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I always wanted to truly manage a business since I entered the working world. I slowly step up rank as a chef until I became Director of cuisine. After that, my next challenge was to open my own business to really put into reality what I wanted to do. As a employee, I often had barrier to get to the next step, now, the only barrier is myself.

What should our readers know about your business?
La Belle is a very authentic yet modern French Bakery. We mainly wholesale but also have a retail shop right in the back of our warehouse. We deliver all our pastries baked frozen and customers thaw as they need for the day. This system allow our customer to save on the price but also reduce their ordering management and daily waste so ultimately can also grow their pastry side. Our quality and customer care set us apart. The reason La Belle is what is it today is because I am never satisfied. I can be happy with the way it’s going but not satisfied enough so I always have to improve La Belle. Challenges comes with owning a business, pandemic is a good example of it. The best lesson I learned is to know yourself. Self awareness is your biggest strength and should be used to your advantage, not against you. The more you know yourself, the more you know your limit and what can be accomplished. We want people to be happy, inside the business but outside as well. So if La Belle can bring you happiness, one bite at the time, we are happy with that.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Le French in Denver Le Bilboquet in Cherry creek Le French Cafe in Boulder

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Back when I starting my Pastry chef career in 2005. I worked for Auchan, a grocery store that was making, despite all stereotypes, all their pastries in house. My mentor and Chef, Laurent Moras was and is still now, dedicated to make the best, to hire the best and to always challenge himself. He challenged me many times and had me work with many other professionals (Olivier, Benjamin, Idir, Steve, Doudou, Carlos and many more). I look back now and am very thankful because Laurent put the expectations so high that any other bakery after that was not good enough for me to stay which explain the dedication I had to seek for the next challenge and ultimately my own business

Website: www.labellefrenchbakery.com
Instagram: @labellefrenchbakery
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaBelleFrenchBakery/