The Constanti House
1923, the birth of Maison Constanti
In France between the wars, feeding the population was a major concern. In Lanne en Barétous in the Pyrenees, Léon Constanti, son of a miller, decided to become a baker.
His tours became an event in the whole valley. Workers, farmers, shepherds, women and children wait impatiently for Léon’s cart to pass by to pick up their loaves of bread, and the free distribution of bread rolls, the “coucous”, makes the children happy.
This is how Maison Constanti was born, with the desire to be a vector of happiness and development of its territory.
Constanti bread: a century of French family tradition
It is quite natural that Jeannot, son of Léon, takes over the torch a few years later by continuing to develop the know-how of the Maison Constanti bakery whose reputation grows over the years.
The arrival of Jean-Luc, alongside his father, marked a new era. The baker was also to become a pastry chef and it was Jean-Luc, an artist at heart, who was to become the conductor of this evolution.
Then an apprentice at Ernest Andrieu’s, under the tutelage of Jacques Labarbe who would join the Maison Constanti a few years later, Jean-Luc won second prize in the Best Apprentice of France competition in 1983, the first consecration of a hard work and a passion that it was time to make the world discover.
Jean-Luc, master craftsman baker and pastry chef, returned home to help his parents. The famous bakery then becomes a bakery and pastry shop.
The beginning of an era of creativity and innovation
While honing his pastry-making skills with Pierre Hermé and Lenotre, Jean-Luc developed a range of fine pastries in the family bakery while continuing to improve his baking skills with special breads, such as the now famous spiced corn bread, and pastries, and above all by developing the traditional bakery baguette to the point of obtaining the title of Best baguette of Béarn in 2008.
Now accompanied by his wife Nathalie to manage the business, the duo will spend the last 20 years developing the company:
Opening of the bakery in Oloron, followed by the one in Pau, then the tea and ice cream shop on the Boulevard des Pyrénées and finally the store at the Halles de Pau where Jean-Luc likes to meet his customers and restaurant friends in the characteristic atmosphere of the Halles, where the best products from Bearn and the Pyrenees are found.
2022, in the company's DNA: innovation and pleasure are well anchored
This is how Louis, the fifth generation, and Jean-Luc went to Italy to learn how to make Panettone. Since then, the “Milan” and the “Four Seasons” of the House of Constanti have been among the ten best in the world.
After years of research into a new chocolate candy, the Constanti Beret Collection was unveiled in 2021, along with its dedicated website.
Almost 100 years after its creation, Maison Constanti is today a company with 50 employees, 5 establishments, an online store… and the story continues with many projects…
Léon’s grandson, accompanied by his wife Nathalie and their children Louis and Justine, continue the know-how of the Master Baker, Chocolatier, Confectioner and Glacier, whose reputation has spread far beyond the borders of Béarn.
Baker in the village, Master Craftsman in Pau, but without ever losing sight of his roots: the small village of Lanne where authenticity still reigns, as well as his core business, the bakery.
