Francois Galand: From a franchise to his own patisserie

“I believe when you sit down to enjoy your cake or pastries, you forget everything. You forgot all your problems. You get to know you will enjoy a moment to eat this pastry and cake. See them, taking your cake, bite and smile. Everything is nice. I think I did a good job.”

These are the delightful words from Francois Galand, owner of Francois Artisan Baker in Sydney. A pastry chef from France who settled in Australia, Francois has spent two thirds of his life baking. His patisserie is located near Bondi Beach, the most beautiful beach in Sydney.

“My grandfather was my inspiration. At age of 6, I lived with my grandfather for 7 years. When other kids were playing with little cars or soldiers, I was playing with eggs, flour, sugar and butter and make something. In the past, Francois worked for an Australia’s popular pie store, as a Research and Executive Pastry Chef,” said Galand.

Over the years, he has had many successful students from all over the world. Due to his high position in the industry, Francois gave up his own bakery. He describes himself as a “perfectionist embracing pure challenges”. To re-open his own bakery was a way to realize his dream of creative baking.

Galand compares the former pie store with his own shop. It was a franchise meaning he was very limited to what he could do. However, by opening his own shop, Galand was able to produce anything he wanted.

“Croissant, lemon meringue tart and beef pie are the most popular selections in the shop,” said Galand.

Despite preparing daily baked goods for his shop, filming online baking tutorials has become Francois new job recently. He hopes more Chinese audiences can bake delicious pastries at home by watching his video.

“I want to show people everything I learnt, and share all my knowledge. I think it’s important. We have all kinds of cooking show on TV and people love it more and more. Everyone loves cooking. I went to 9 different counties, like Korea, Japan, Thailand, New York and Dubai. I taught all of them and in the end, they all managed to follow my instructions. If people from all 9 countries in the world can do this, Chinese can do this!”(People’s Daily Online/ Tingting Yan)