In France, pastries are cultural. Both men and women, regardless of age or socio-professional category, consume croissants for their own indulgence and, most of the time, to share with the family. For the French, “pure butter” is a prerequisite to a good croissant, with a beautiful golden and shiny colour (whereas a margarine croissant will have a more matt crust).

The delicious smell of fresh butter emanating from the croissant, as well as its generous visual impact, with a beautiful golden colour, are the first consumer experience essential to create desire for the product. The croissant should not be too large; it shouldn’t be allowed to proof for an excessive amount or else it would be too aerated, less tasty and the flavours will not be as intense.

A croissant must be crispy on the outside and melt- in the mouth. Balanced, lingering flavours of butter and sugar come across. At Bridor, the tasting of our signature recipe, Eclat du Terroir, ends with the unique note of caramel butter.

For an enhanced experience, a good croissant must be eaten within 3 hours after being baked to benefit from all its organoleptic qualities. Otherwise it dries out, loses Crispness from the absorption of external moisture, loses its lovely smell of butter, its shine and the great visual aspect that creates such desire for the product.

The French are still devoted to the plain croissant, which is mainly eaten at breakfast. They may also add butter (!) or jam according to their desires. In other countries, however, croissant is consumed differently: it is served as a sandwich base in the US or the UK, filled and decorated in Italy, mixed with seeds and has a brown crumb in Northern Europe or even herbs such as Zaatar (a blend of thyme, oregano, sumac and sesame) in the Gulf countries. In Asia, all kinds of recipes derived from the croissant dough can be found: all forms, colours, flavours are available.

This is where we launched our Bun’n’Roll, a spiral- shaped puff pastry bun made from a delicious croissant dough. Originally developed to make hamburgers, it can be used in all kinds of sweet recipes which are even more indulgent. Combined with salty toppings, the croissant dough, with its sweet and buttery flavours, completes the taste of the hamburger. Its crispy texture and aerated lamination create a new tasting experience. Bun’n’Roll has since been deployed in North America and Europe, enjoying great success.

Sensory analysis is an essential step in the development process at Bridor. Indeed, since maintaining our premium positioning is our priority, we strive to achieve the best product, in line with our customers and final consumers expectations.

Product development is punctuated with tastings by small expert committees throughout the product development, and the final version is validated by a consumer panel (either using a triangle test when it comes to a recipe change, or a comparison to what the competition has to offer if it is a new product). As a last step of the validation process, a customer study can also be carried out. Expert panels allow us to complete our research on the organoleptic characteristics of our new product.

The analysis does not stop there: once launched, all our manufactured products are controlled by our laboratory on a daily basis. Each batch is placed on a tray, baked and analysed. Visual (volume, lamination, presence of holes...), smell and taste tests are carried out. Lastly, for some targeted products (new products; recipe changes or manufacturing line changes...), aging tests are carried out several times over the product’s lifetime, which can be to 12 months. Thereby, Senso”ry analysis, plays a key role in Bridor’s development.

Isabelle DUSSOUS, Product Quality Director - Bridor

Françoise DELEAU, Product Quality Manager - Bridor

Pascaline KOSMICKI, Group Marketing Manager - Brido