Pascal Rigo

Pascal Rigo was born in N'Djamena, formally known as Fort-Lamy. After running a daily errand to buy two baguettes for his family,[3] Rigo apprenticed at his village's bakery at age 7.[4] He earned a business degree from the University of Bordeaux, was certified as a professional baker. He first moved to California in order to begin importing local wine from France. He stayed in the U.S. to open a bakery in Los Angeles then later, to San Francisco.

In 1996 Rigo founded Panissimo Group, which ran the bakery on Pine Street that became Bay Bread.[4] He chose to live, and have an office, at the central location in a former French laundry on the busy thoroughfare Rigo bought, and continues to operate, San Francisco's oldest flour mill, which Bay Bread uses to produce organic flour for its loaves.[4] Rigo originally intended to operate his business as a wholesale bakery, but soon began selling loaves and then croissants directly to the public. A positive review in the San Francisco Examiner initially popularized the bakery.[5] Rigo renamed it the "Boulangerie", after painting the word on the colorful awning over the sidewalk, then opened similarly themed dine-in bakeries throughout the city. One, in Cole Valley, is the site of the former Tassajara Bakery,[6][7] where San Francisco's modern artisan bread movement began.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Rigo and his business partners invested in, and founded, a number of restaurants including Soleil, Rigolo, Gallette, La Table, Le Petit Robert, Chez Nous, Americano,[3][8] and Plantanos.[1] One, Cortez, earned a Michelin Star.[9] In 2001 Rigo and partners bought Oh-La-La, one of San Francisco's oldest coffee house chains.[6][10] The group later divested of most of its restaurants to concentrate on its bakeries.[11][12] In 2009 it bought a share of Miette, a small chain of candy stores and cupcake bakers.[13]

In addition to its retail operations, the company supplies bread to grocery stores, restaurants and hotels in the area.[4] Some rival food entrepreneurs in San Francisco's small French entrepreneur community have criticized Rigo for his fast expansion efforts.[14] The New York Times called Rigo "the only real entrepreneur" among the community.[15] Rigo has intentionally avoided publicity so as not to encourage a backlash from critics.[4]

In 2003 Rigo co-wrote a cookbook, The American Boulangerie: Authentic French Pastries and Breads for the Home Kitchen.[3][16]

On June 4, 2012, Rigo sold La Boulange Bakery to Starbucks for $100 million.[17] In June 2015, Starbucks announced it would close all of its La Boulange cafes by the end of September 2015.[18]

Rigo later announced plans to re-open six of the La Boulange locations, under the name "La Boulangerie de San Francisco." [19]

• La Boulange Bakery