The 2024 Olympics opening ceremony is tonight in Paris. We can think of no better way to celebrate than with a box of macarons from Sarasota's own Le Macaron, which distributes its delicate cookies to more than 60 locations around the U.S.

Le Macaron owners Audrey Guillem-Saba and her husband, chef Didier Saba, opened the first Le Macaron shop here in 2009. They moved to the U.S. from Provence, France, and wanted to introduce Sarasotans to the multi-colored, multi-flavored world of macarons.

A macaron is a meringue-based sandwich cookie with jam or buttercream in between; it's made with almond flour, so it's naturally gluten-free. A macaroon is a coconut drop cookie. And definitely don't confuse either with the French president, whose name is Emmanuel Macron.

“When you move to the United States from another country, you have to bring some sort of value to the community and have or create your own employment,” Guillem-Saba explains. “We needed a project for the visa. My mother loved macarons and couldn’t find them here. As result, my husband went to Paris to train to learn how to make them."  He trained at a famous pastry house, where he discussed the burgeoning Le Macaron project with the chef, who was open to training him. 

The couple opened their shop on St. Armands Circle right in the middle of the financial crisis. “People thought we were crazy. No one was opening new businesses then,” Guillem-Saba recalls with a laugh. “In the beginning, my whole family worked in the shop. I was nine months pregnant and still working. Americans didn’t understand what macarons were. They thought they were macaroons, the coconut cookie. We had to explain them to each guest, except those who might have traveled abroad.”

Since opening its flagship store, Le Macaron has evolved into a franchising company, with more than 60 stores around the United States. Guillem-Saba says that the production facility, which is still headquartered in Sarasota, churns out 30,000 cookies per day.

“I had no idea we would have something this big,” she says. “Because St. Armands Circle is so touristy, people from around the country wanted us to ship our macarons to them. They were spending more on shipping than they were on macarons. It worked OK, but we had a lot of broken macarons, which required refunds. Then my parents recommended we open a second location in Florida, and then elsewhere after that. That's when we started to think about franchising and began to grow quickly.”

The production facility, in The Colonnade shopping plaza on Bee Ridge Road, is expansive and has continued to grow throughout the years. As shops closed and tenants left the plaza, the Sabas built out the surrounding spaces to accommodate their business.

Each section of the kitchen is responsible for a different job. In one station, employees make macaron filling, which include the buttercream and jams. “Everything here is scratch-made,” Guillem-Saba says.

In another station, the cookies' dry ingredients are mixed together before heading to yet another station, where the wet ingredients are added. A large-scale mixer folds the batter, but must be finished by hand so that the chef can feel the texture—something that's crucial to the success of a macaron. 

Everything requires a human touch, and it's not always easy.

“The humidity of the almond flour and hydration are really important. Every year, we learn something more about the macaron,” Didier Saba explains. “We had to change the recipe a little bit at first, but we figured it out.”

“I can say that my husband is one of the few people in the world who has mastered the macaron,” Guillem-Saba adds.

Once the batter is the right consistency, it’s portioned into just the right size with the help of a specially designed machine before heading to a massive rotating oven, where it bakes and forms its signature foot, an airy, bubbled rim around the base of each cookie. Finally, each cookie is hand-inspected and filled with delightful flavor combinations (the pistachio macaron is this writer’s favorite).

When the cookies are complete, they are shipped frozen to the company’s many locations. They can remain in the freezer for a few months, Guillem-Saba says, but once thawed, they last for four days, maximum.

“We have been very fortunate," Guillem-Saba says. "This is the American dream. We are so thankful for our customers who love us. It’s very rewarding.”

To learn more about Le Macaron, click here.