The blue flame of Crêpe Suzette.
It casts its light on a wonderful moment.
That irreplaceable moment in the eyes of founder Naokuni Arita, who got his start working in restaurants, is what Henri Charpentier has always been offering since our founding, and is a promise to our customers.
What is important will not change.
Not now, not ever.
The Other Side of Henri Charpentier.
Ashiya, Kobe Prefecture, 1969.
Henri Charpentier began as “Salon de Thé”, a cafe where you could also enjoy sweets, which was still a rarity at the time.
A group of friends who were all chefs would get together and share knowledge with each other for the benefit of our customers, preparing each dish in their kitchen.
This gave the desserts an atmosphere like that of a live performance, inviting our customers into an extraordinary world of comfort and enjoyment.
Thanks to your support, more than 50 years have passed since our founding and we are now able to prepare cakes and baked goods to people throughout Japan via department stores, shopping malls, and souvenir shops.
However, the reality is that our production still relies on the skilled hands of our chefs just like it did in the days of Salon de Thé.
Here, we would like to share with you the “unchanging values” that can be said to be the other side of Henri Charpentier.
Always knowing what needs to be done.
Creativity and ingenuity are the true essence of a chef’s skill.
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Always knowing what needs to be done.
Creativity and ingenuity are the true essence of a chef’s skill.
Henri Charpentier refers to the skilled individuals who create the cakes and baked goods not as “patissiers”, but “chefs”.
This is not merely a “remnant” that has been carried over from Salon de Thé at the time of our founding.
As the quality of fruit varies depending on the weather conditions of their various production areas, we procure our fruit from all over Japan as opposed to selecting only one production area every year.
We want the taste of the cream to be its freshest, so once a product is finished with cream, it gets shipped out the next morning at the latest.
We even make revisions to recipes that have existed since our founding in order to create even richer flavors.
The title of “chef” is a reflection of our relentless efforts to utilize their ingenuity and creativity to provide our customers with the best.
Our Madeleines are a longtime favorite since our founding and the result of our continuous pursuit of the best recipe to make them fresher and more fragrant.
Fninancier&Madeleine
Fninancier&Madeleine
To make one a hundred times,
or to make a hundred one time.
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To make one a hundred times,
or to make a hundred one time.
Thanks to your support, Henri Charpentier sweets can now be delivered to people throughout Japan through department stores and other outlets.
The number of cakes and baked goods we make in one day is many times larger than it was when we first started.
However, we always remain true to the basics of the creation of our confections.
If we need a hundred of something, we’ll make one of them a hundred times.
In fact, the cream mixer we use isn’t one like you see in a big factory, but rather a small tabletop model for home use.
Things like this are essential in making sure we continue to produce high-quality sweets that are worthy of our customers’ best moments.
Better butter made closer to home.
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Better butter made closer to home.
Butter is an essential ingredient in sweets and baked goods.
Of all the butters to choose from throughout the world, Financiers, a longtime favorite for more than 40 years,
are made with “pre-fermented butter”, which has a rich taste that our founder fell in love
with during a visit to Europe.
This pre-fermented butter has a very complex production process and it is difficult to find a producer in Japan.
Importing it from overseas was considered, but it would inevitably lose its freshness along the way while being transported.
That was when we met the dairy farmers of Hamanaka Town in Hokkaido.
The dairy farmers of Hokkaido’s Nemuro and Kushiro areas not only raise their cattle in stress-free environments on spacious amounts of land, they also use tools such as soil and milk analysis to maintain the quality of the soil that is needed to provide their cattle with high-quality pasture. It is milk from this environment that the dairy farmers of Hamanaka Town use to exclusively produce the pre-fermented butter that is used in our Financiers.
This is how we are able to continue making our Financiers with such delicious flavor.
Our Financiers are well loved sweets
with rich aroma of pre-fermented butter and almonds.
Aromas escape easily.
We do our best to capture them.
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Aromas escape easily.
We do our best to capture them.
“Aroma” is one of the things that we have always cherished, even since our first days in the Salon de Thé era.
The luxurious aroma of flambéed orange liqueur, the sweet aroma of fresh fruit, the richness of almond and mellowness of butter.
The aroma can enhance the taste of sweets before they are eaten and is an essential part of that wonderful moment that we give our customers.
However, aromas are fickle things, and if you’re not careful they can get away from you very easily.
No matter how sweet the scent of a confection is when it is first made, if that aroma is gone by the time it reaches the customer, then they won’t be fully satisfied.
For this reason, we purchase the almonds used to make our Financiers in their whole, unground state and grind them in-house just before using them to bring out their full aroma.
The lemons used to make our Madeleines are harvested only when they are in season and at their most flavorful, and are immediately frozen in their own juice to lock in their crisp, fresh aroma.
Additionally, once a confection is baked, it is individually wrapped within 10 minutes to ensure that it keeps its aroma.
Our Financiers & Madeleines are Salon-created treats with a freshly baked aroma for you to enjoy.
Fninancier&Madeleine
Fninancier&Madeleine
We can’t make magic, but we can make tools.
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We can’t make magic, but we can make tools.
We want to make sweets that are suitable for the “moments” that our customers have.
It is with these ideals in mind that the chefs at Henri Charpentier make our sweets every day.
Of course, chefs are not magicians, so things can go wrong sometimes.
However, even if they can’t make magic, they can make use of their knowledge to create the tools they need to continuously improve and consistently create the best sweets possible.
For example, take our ovens for baking Financiers in Japan.
In order to bake the Financier dough evenly on the iron plates with both precise temperature control and the proper amount of time, we just decided to make our own oven.
Through repeated trial and error, we designed a specialized oven that allows us to continue making Financiers in great quantities without compromising product quality.
A favorite for more than 40 years.
Our Financiers have the rich aroma of fermented butter and almonds.
Sorry,
but we wait until the last minute to make them.
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Sorry,
but we wait until the last minute to make them.
Henri Charpentier’s fresh cakes are the choice of many customers for everyday treats as well as for special occasions such as Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries.
Our products serve as a decoration on our customers’ days, so we take meticulous care to get everything right, starting with ingredients and production methods, to the timing of shipping, displaying them in stores, all the way to when we give them to our customers.
The thing a chef values the most is the freshness of the cake.
The cream is whipped only just before the cake is finished so that customers can enjoy the taste of the cream at its freshest.
Cakes are also shipped out from the kitchen within 24 hours of completion as another step in our thorough processes to ensure freshness.
Of course making large amounts in advance would be easier, but customer satisfaction is our first priority, and that is a commitment that will never change.
The Shortcake boasts brisk cream and fresh strawberries
for an elegantly delicious taste.
The Shortcake
The Shortcake
We always do our best.
But no professional can do it alone.
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We always do our best.
But no professional can do it alone.
A true professional is one who stays in top form while also getting support from those around them.
We believe that Henri Charpentier has been able to continue to this day because our chefs use not only their own abilities but also the abilities of others.
This is why, above all else, we value those who support us.
From the dairy farmers that produce the high-quality milk used in making our butter and cheese to those people working alongside them to protect the future of dairy farming, as well as the young students who aspire to one day become confectionery chefs and breathe new life into sweets culture in the future, we provide both material support and technical cooperation every year, without fail, to people that give us the support we need.
The Suzette Foundation provides ongoing support for students of confectionary arts.
Don’t worry.
We only use things you find in the kitchen.
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Don’t worry.
We only use things you find in the kitchen.
We often get asked, “What kind of special ingredients do you use?” The truth is that every single ingredient we use is something that can be found in your kitchen.
Of course, our chefs choose and use the highest-quality ingredients such as almonds, seasonal fruits, and fragrant butter selected from around the world in pursuit of the finest aromas and textures.
If you have a moment, we’d appreciate it if you could take a look at the ingredient label on the packaging.
We want to be a ray of light for those who need it.
It may sound light grandiose, but we mean it.
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We want to be a ray of light for those who need it.
It may sound light grandiose, but we mean it.
Henri Charpentier is based in Ashiya, a city in Hyogo Prefecture.
Our company, founded 50 years ago, experienced the ordeal of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake just as other residents and businesses here did.
After the quake, Ashiya managed to begin its recovery, but it was still pitch black at night as there were no lights.
Our founder, Naokuni Arita, decided to turn on the lights at our Ashiya store, which was not even open for business, and leave them on all night long.
Disasters place a heavy burden on their victims, both materially and emotionally.
In the wake of the disaster, turning the store lights on served as sort of a lighthouse, illuminating the path for residents to take in the midst of the darkness and bringing peace of mind to people living nearby.
A bit more than a decade later, the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck eastern Japan.
Keeping in mind the lessons we learned in the past, we continue to provide support to the Tohoku region to this day.
”Smile for Tohoku from Ashiya”, which marks its 12th year of activity this year, is the continuing embodiment of our founder’s desire to be “a ray of light for those who need it”.
"Happiness" "Joy" "Wonder"
to all through sweets.
Originated from the culturally rich city of Ashiya.
Originated from the culturally rich city of Ashiya.
In April 1969, Henri Charpentier was established in front of Hanshin Ashiya Station, as a small coffee shop where desserts were served. Ashiya is a scenic area, which has been captivating many great writers and intellectuals for many years. It also is a city which has been assimilating foreign culture and arranging them with their creative inspiration.
We were nurtured by this modernism of Ashiya, and have been creating various stories. Ashiya is our birthplace, and it is the only place that has all of our foundations. We are constantly evolving, without ever forgetting our origin, and will strive to add new chapters filled with discoveries and wonders to our story.
Allure of desserts,
hospitality as if you are in a restaurant…
Allure of desserts, hospitality as if you are in a restaurant…
Crêpe Suzette is a menu item served at all of our Cafés. It is a dessert that provided a spark for our Founder to open a coffee shop. Naokuni Arita, the Founder, was fascinated by a dish of dessert during his trainee days at a restaurant. Crêpe lightly simmered in orange juice pouring over liquor blue flame rises customers happily smiling over the flame. Arita was deeply impressed by this dessert, just one dessert that is capable of making people so happy.
Our serving style of wagon dessert remains unchanced from those days – we are still bringing the wagon dessert to the customers’ table and flambé in front of them. To deliver “happiness”, “pleasure”, and “wonders” to each and every customer through the authentic desserts that are normally served at fine restaurants, and pastries we create with meticulous attention. That is our commitment behind the blue flame of Crêpe Suzette, and is our grass root.
The flickering candle is
a symbol of “smiles”
The flickering candle is a symbol of “smiles”
Candle logo of Henri Charpentier. It signifies the scenes in which people are smiling around the pastries. Our passion to bring out the “happiness”, “pleasure” and “wonders” to people through our sweets, still well established within our company never changed from the day one.
As our symbol, we are uniformly using this candle logo on the packages and paperbags that are used to wrap our prodcts. In order to ensure that our passion will reach to our customers when we pass over the pastries from our hands to customers hand. So that we can remain as the brand to be chosen or your special day. our passion embodied in the candle logo we will continue spinning the new stories of pastries.
