The news surprised the world of sweet-tooths and pastry enthusiasts: Christophe Michalak has sold all of his stake to the company Kresk Développement, stepping away from the business he founded in 2013 with his wife Delphine McCarty. With around twenty shops spanning Paris to Japan and roughly 150 staff, the Michalak brand had become one of the most recognizable names in Parisian pastry in the capital.
This isn’t the first time Kresk has stepped into the fray. The group had already taken a 70% stake in Michalak Paris back in 2023, in a first deal framed as backing the brand’s growth, particularly in Asia. Kresk Développement is the family office of Didier Tabary (former majority shareholder of Laboratoires Filorga), whose assets surpass €1.5 billion, spread across cosmetics, private equity, real estate and the environment.
Needless to say, Michalak pastries have fallen into hands that are well capitalized. The full sale announced at the end of April 2026 by the chef himself marks the founder’s definitive exit. At 52, Christophe Michalak says he wants to cook now “without compromise” and speaks of an “enormous break,” with an unconventional project: touring France by electric bike to meet young pastry chefs and local producers.
Good question, and the one that most interests regular readers. For now, there are no signs of closures. The shops remain open on Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière in the 10th, Rue de la Verrerie in the Marais, Rue du Vieux-Colombier in Saint‑Germain‑des‑Prés, and Printemps Haussmann.
The official Christophe Michalak website also remains active, with online ordering and refrigerated delivery across mainland France. What’s changing is the man behind the name. The Michalak brand has always rested on a distinctly personal identity: a boldly unapologetic rock’n’roll style, unfussy, confident recipes, and an energy that Parisians recognized at every new outlet.
As Pierre Hermé did before him, who sold the majority of his company to L’Occitane and then to Butler Industries, Christophe Michalak chose a strong financial partner to accelerate his growth. The difference is that Pierre Hermé stayed at the helm. Michalak, meanwhile, is moving on to something else.
That's where things get interesting. A high-end pastry house can run without its founder, provided that the teams and the recipes are properly passed on.
We think of Ladurée, Fauchon, and so many other Parisian labels that have outlived their founders. But a brand built on the charisma of a single chef, with a proper name on the storefront, is a different matter. The iconic creations stay in the catalog: the Kalin (the marshmallow bear that still caused a buzz during the pop-up at Printemps Haussmann in early 2026), the Paris-Brest reimagined, the vanilla flan, the pastries from the Faubourg Poissonnière bakery. All these references have earned the loyalty of a demanding Parisian clientele, and they don’t necessarily need Christophe Michalak himself to keep pleasing.
What Kresk Développement actually has in mind for the road ahead remains to be seen. When it first took a stake in 2023, the group announced plans to bolster its presence in France and abroad. Is that trajectory still on the table? The answer will likely emerge in the coming months, as openings unfold or the brand undergoes possible changes. In the meantime, for those looking to discover or rediscover the shops, the Paris addresses remain open. The patisserie on Rue du Vieux-Colombier in the 6th arrondissement, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, remains a reliable stop for gourmets on the Left Bank.
