Jean-Marc Muller – The start of a wonderful story
In Alsace, Bredele recipes form an intrinsic part of family life. They’re closely guarded and passed on from generation to generation, like family treasure. Only a rare few choose to share them.
Jean-Marc Muller, founder of our Maison, made this decision. The decision to throw open the doors to this culinary heritage and to let the spotlight shine on these delicious little treasures, beyond Alsace family kitchens. This was the driving conviction that led to the first pages of the Maison Alsacienne de Biscuiterie story being written in 1996.
For 30 years, Jean-Marc Muller delved into his family recipe collections —lovingly passed down from generation to generation— to find the treasured Bredele secrets. The identity of our Maison is rooted in these family legacies. Mr Muller then entrusted the Maison’s passionate and talented pâtissiers with this inherited expertise, to bring the family recipes to life and share them with the world. The passion isn’t just limited to the production bakery, it reaches each and every part of our Maison — from the skilled hands that meticulously craft each of our creations to our stores, where our customer advisors share the wealth of our Alsace traditions with each visitor that steps through the door.
From a recipe to history, from a bakery to a store… Jean-Marc Muller has created a biscuiterie family in its own right over the past three decades, nurturing it with patience and generosity. Now that the time has come to turn the page and start a new chapter, he has chosen to do it in the way that he has done things for all these years: with the utmost care and high standards. Today, Jean-Marc Muller is taking a very well-earned retirement, leaving a thriving Maison in good hands – those of Raphaël Kiesele.
Raphaël Kiesele – The story continues
Maintaining these values, Raphaël Kiesele is now at the helm of our Maison, taking on the honourable task of preserving and perpetuating this legacy. Here at Maison Alsacienne de Biscuiterie, we all share much more than just recipes for Alsace treats: we share the same spirit and a common passion for the biscuitier trade.
Before he had even crossed the threshold of Maison Alsacienne de Biscuiterie, the art of biscuiterie was already an innate part of Raphaël Kiesele’s life. His grandfather, Frédéric Kiesele, was a pioneer of the trade and back in 1946, at only 25 years old, he created Colmar Biscuit and became a favourite at almost 14 markets across the region.
In 1972, this vivacity and tenacity led to the opening of his chocolaterie, named “F.K”, which went on to become Frédéric Chocolatier, an Alsace institution.
It’s within this family company that Raphaël Kiesele took his first steps in biscuiterie in 1999, gradually learning how to run the company before taking over the reins as Executive Director. Those nine years of his career forged his vision of the trade and consolidated the legacy that his family had passed down.
Backed by this experience, he went on to take on executive positions in a number of companies, before co-founding Maisons et Savoir-Faire d’Excellence in 2020 — an association that promotes and preserves French artisanal expertise, reflecting this eternal conviction.
Raphaël Kiesele also carries this passion with him in treasured objects, which bear silent witness to a centuries-old heritage.
Engraved into a Springerle rolling pin dating back to the 19th century, the Kiesele name takes pride of place. Inherited from his great-great-grandfather, this object has been carefully preserved over time, embodying ancestral expertise and reminding Raphaël Kiesele of his connection with his lineage of passionate artisans.
In the perpetuation of this legacy, a family recipe book dating as far back as 1898 also adds to this precious memory. Coming from the same lineage, it belonged to his grandfather’s grandfather, a boulanger-pâtissier who had a bakery in Colmar, on rue des Six Montagnes Noires. This bit of handwritten history contains countless recipes, both sweet and savoury. Like a book of delicious spells, it carries the family’s decadent memory in its pages, maintaining a written trace of the passion that continues to drive Raphaël Kiesele to this day. Who knows, perhaps you’ll soon be discovering a creation directly inspired by these hundred-year-old pages in one of our stores soon…
