2013 | Our 30th Year has Begun
Our Founder, Hubert Loevenbruck
In honor of our 30-year anniversary, we’ve been reminiscing a bit about yesteryear – 1983, in this case. We thought it was time to introduce you to Hubert Loevenbruck, the Frenchman who created Le Panier.
Hubert was the youngest in a family of thirteen children, from the Normandy region of France. At the age of seventeen, ready for adventure, he set off on a steamship from France to America. His first job was as a Fred Astaire dance instructor. From there, he worked his way across the country, trying his hand at a variety of professions. Eventually, he landed in Oregon and started an imported cheese and meat business. He introduced his customers to names and flavors they had never imagined…Le Rustique, a camembert made by his uncle in the Calvados valley, and Marcel et Henri’s pâté, created by Henri Lapuyade.
Yet he lacked his daily baguette and croissant.
So he brought eight bakers from France, fresh out of baking school. They brought their notebooks of classic French recipes. French ovens were imported. And they started mixing and molding and testing and baking and sampling – until they had created an authentic menu of French bread and pastries.
The year was 1980. At that time, the artisan bread movement was barely emerging onto the food scene in this country. The expectation of having espresso on the menu was reserved for trips to Europe….Would there be any interest in a very French bakery?
The first Le Panier opened in Portland, in the heart of Old Town. I can close my eyes and recall the irresistible sensory experience it offered: the compelling aroma of fresh baking wafting out the door; the sound of bread crackling on the oven’s hearth; the sight of bakers, using wooden paddles to unload hot bread from the decked oven; and the indescribable display of breads on the wall, and pastries in the cases.
When Hubert heard from his dear friend, Gretchen Mathers (of Gretchen’s Of Course fame), that space was available next to her in Pike Place Market, he seized the opportunity. With Le Panier having opened two more stores in Portland – at Yamhill and Clackamas Town Center, he felt the time was right to test the Seattle market.
So on June 28, 1983, Le Panier opened its doors for the first time in Pike Place Market. It was early afternoon, and Seattle graciously welcomed Le Panier. By 4 p.m., there wasn’t a baguette to be found. Since then, we’ve tried to have a piece of bread for every last customer. The grand adventure had begun!
Thirty years later, the adventure continues. Merci bien.
– Kristi Drake