Sweet Success

Elisabeth Holder Raberin and Pierre-Antoine Raberin are the main ingredients behind the beloved macaron brand Ladurée

- David Masello

CHOOSING A LADURÉE MACARON IS likely the sweetest decision a person can make in life. No choice is the wrong one— which hasn’t stopped Parisians from happily arguing over which is best for more than a century.

Apart from California almonds, egg whites, and 18 natural flavors that include raspberry, peach, and pistachio, the most essential ingredient of the company’s success is its French-born owners, Elisabeth Holder Raberin and her husband, Pierre-Antoine Raberin. The couple met when both were working for Hermès in France. In 1993, Elisabeth’s father purchased the venerable Ladurée brand (which dates from 1862) and named her co-president of Ladurée USA in 2011, along with Pierre-Antoine. Now, they oversee the brand’s North American presence from their offices in New York.