[Sponsored article] Big snacking news! Croissant Chips, the first 100% American innovation from the French food startup Michel et Augustin, have popped up at Shake Shack. The premium fast food chain just dropped two new seasonal shakes – and on top of one of them, the Chocolate Pie Shake, you’ll find their signature hand-spun frozen custard topped with none other than these thin slices of puff pastry from Michel et Augustin. This is a huge deal for this small team of five “troublemakers” here in the US.
A mashup of French pastry and American snacking
Michel et Augustin arrived on American shores back in 2015 with an objective to bring together the best of French pastry – the savoir-faire and quality ingredients – with classic American snacking. With this strategy in mind, the team conceived of Croissant Chip back in 2018, and worked hard to make this perfect idea – the icon of French pastry revisited for everyday snacking joy – a reality.
After lots of research and development, production and transportation challenges, and a testing period on their e-commerce site, the “Troublemakers of Taste” finally launched their signature Croissant Chips nationwide at Whole Foods in the spring of 2021.
Since its inception in 2004, the brand Michel et Augustin is synonymous in France with tireless innovation and a remarkable entrepreneurial spirit. So it was it was very exciting when they had conceived of their first product made entirely in and for the American market.
A small but mighty team
As with any adventure, Michel et Augustin found itself confronting a few bumps along the road, the most notable of which was breakage of the chips. It appeared that puff pastry, cut thin and crispy, was more sensitive to the long supply chain than they had realized.
This did not stop Michel et Augustin, always light on their toes, to take into account customer feedback and continue to optimize the recipe in small batches. After a few different trials, the team landed on a solution: by increasing the size of each chip and extending baking time, the chips were significantly more resistant to transportation – without any shift in the formula or the taste! Their first production of these new chips took place only last week and will be hitting shelves over the next few months. We are bringing you the news early: be sure to give them a taste in the coming months!
The stars align
Even though those first rounds of Croissant Chips left room for improvement, when the dessert team at Shake Shack reached out to Danielle King, the General Manager at Michel et Augustin, with their vision of using them as a topping for their next limited edition shake, she saw a huge opportunity. “Served as a ‘Croissant Chip crumble’ on top of a decadent, pastry-forward shake? It seemed like a wonderful destiny for our first iteration of Croissant Chips,” she says. “This partnership has been a great way to boost visibility for our adventure – and Shake Shack is a place where consumers can enjoy our chips while focusing on the taste and texture, which we are proud of!” This is a nice example of stars aligning for the small team while they worked on optimizing the original recipe for the grocery aisle.
And don’t forget the Cookie Squares!
Over and above their signature Croissant Chips, Michel et Augustin continue to delight the taste buds of American consumers with Cookie Squares, available at Whole Foods Market, The Fresh Market, many other stores (and their website!), as well as aboard all domestic Delta flights for the next few months. Keep an eye out for these French troublemakers around town!
Find the limited edition Chocolate Pie Shake at Shake Shack until April 2022! Post your photos and videos tagging @shakeshack and @micheletaugustin_us on Instagram and TikTok.
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Sponsored articles do not belong to the editorial team at Frenchly. They are provided or written at the request of the advertiser, who determines the content.
