type subsidiary founded february 1983 in dallas texas headquarters dallas texas united states key people patrick esquerr founder products fast casual bakery caf including several varieties of sandwiches salads and soups parent groupe le duff website www.lamadeleine.com la madeleine de corps inc. operating as la madeleine is a restaurant chain of 75 locations as of 2013 1 in the u.s. states of georgia kentucky florida louisiana maryland oklahoma texas arkansas and virginia . 1 its headquarters is in dallas texas . 2 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit la madeleine country french caf was founded in february 1983 by patrick esquerr a loire valley born businessman . 2 with the advice and support of legendary retail magnate stanley marcus of neiman marcus fame and his mother monique esquerr opened his first bakery on mockingbird lane in dallas texas near southern methodist university and it soon expanded to a caf . 2 while managing that location esquerr has said that employees nicknamed him papi spanish for father and he thought of them as his children . in 1998 esquerr resigned and la madeleine was sold to four investment companies . in 2001 the company was sold again to groupe le duff a french restaurant chain company owned by louis le duff 2 and co purchasers lapointe rosenstein and cadigan investment partners 3 for an undisclosed amount . 2 in 2008 the company caused outrage after discontinuing the free side of bread after 20 years due to wheat costs and started charging 49 cents . in addition the restaurants only offered sourdough bread with certain items that were purchased such as entr es soups and salads . however the discontinuation was recalled three days later with the suggestion that customers not waste the food after la madeleine allegedly received a couple hundred responses ... mostly complaints . 4 food is served cafeteria style for breakfast lunch and dinner . the buildings are designed to resemble restaurants found across the french countryside . farm tools and impressionist paintings hang on the walls and the restaurants are known for keeping a fire burning in winter . 5 6 however in march 2010 at the preston rd forest ln location in dallas the cafeteria style was dropped for a modern ordering station system . 2 in a news article regarding this esquerr called his resignation a regret and announced he was joining la madeleine again as an ambassador adviser claiming he was even going to be in the dishwashing room . 7 that same year la madeleine s belt line rd location in dallas was named best soup in dallas by dallas observer . 8 esquerr has commented that he dislikes the term chain and has repeatedly referred to his restaurants as a family . 9 the original store is still in existence at 3072 mockingbird lane dallas texas despite major reconstruction of the surrounding area by smu . 10 see also edit dallas fort worth portal companies portal food portal list of french restaurants references edit a b la madeleine locations lamadeleine.com retrieved 2014 01 21 a b c d e f robinson jacobs karen 2010 03 05 . la madeleine founder may take role as adviser . the dallas morning news . retrieved 2013 01 18 . la madeleine chain sold to group of investors . fort worth star telegram . 2001 12 11 . retrieved 2013 01 18 . saenz harris joyce 2008 05 28 . la madeleine goes back to free bread . dallasnews.com . retrieved 2013 01 18 . la madeleine to open at old blockbuster on south cooper . fort worth star telegram . 2001 11 20 . retrieved 2013 01 18 . gubbins teresa 1995 11 02 . la madeleine . dallasnews.com . retrieved 2013 01 18 . nichols nancy 2010 03 15 . founder patrick esquerr returns to la madeleine as a special advisor . d magazine . retrieved 2013 01 18 . dallas readers pick best soup la madeleine best of dallas . dallasobserver.com . retrieved 2013 01 18 . patrick esquerre patriarch of la madeleine treats his business as his family . nation s restaurant news . 1997 01 01 . retrieved 2013 01 18 . dallas community calendar . dallasnews.com . 2010 10 21 . retrieved 2013 01 18 . external links edit official website groupeleduff.com profile retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title la madeleine restaurant chain & oldid 743417035 categories restaurants in dallasfrench american culture in texasfrench restaurantsrestaurants established in 19831983 establishments in texasrestaurant chains in the united stateshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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