Maëlle Hamma: Why did you choose to start your business here?

Maryline Roux & Manuel Ramiro Dias Da Costa: The opportunity presented itself after the closure of the bakery that used to be located here, Monsieur Bock’s. It closed at first, then was taken over, and then closed again. The location was already well known, which doesn’t necessarily make it any easier.

Is your daily life here what you expected it to be?

There are always surprises--good and bad! The bakery was closed for a year before us. Some customers got into the habit of going elsewhere, to Smatch or Auchan, which has since opened. And in a neighbourhood like ours, we don’t have the traffic of a shopping mall, so the quality of our products and our reputation are even more important. You have to work hard: that’s the rule in the craft industry.

What challenges does your company face?

Recruitment, and that’s what could put us out of business one day. Some applicants’ requirements, such as not working on the weekends, don’t fit in with our business. Young apprentices in the catering trade also go into industrial production and lose their skills. This is problematic, because one degree in a growth chamber or one gram in a recipe can change everything. Craft requires rigour and motivation. The war in Ukraine has also had an impact on us, with sharp price rises for flour, butter, eggs and, more recently, chocolate, as well as energy prices, indexation, etc. Construction work will soon be taking place in the street. We hope this will make it easier for customers to get in and out.

How do you see your company in five years' time?

We’re 60, so we’ll probably be retired! It’ll be hard to stop working.

Any message for decision-makers?

It’s true that our jobs are often difficult and that you need to have a taste for hard work. But we need to motivate young people to go into manual trades and remind them that they are in no way degrading! On the contrary, these are skills that are in danger of disappearing…

Au Pain de Mary at a glance

Founders: Manuel Ramiro Dias Da Costa and Maryline Roux.

Employees: 19, including the owners.

Located on Rue de Gasperich, this bakery and pastry shop opened in 2013 and offers not only bread and cakes, but also chocolates, sandwiches and savoury treats, as well as a catering service. Its bakers and patissiers follow trends and offer customised cakes. They have also developed a number of specialities, including biscuits, milk jams and homemade ice creams.

This article was written in for the  magazine, published on 11 December. The content is produced exclusively for the magazine. It is published on the website as a contribution to the complete Paperjam archive. .

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