How an Allergy Led to a Sweet Family Business for Thierry Atlan & Daughter Julie Atlan

Thierry Atlan & daughter Julie Atlan

Thierry Atlan became a chocolatier when a gluten allergy ended his promising pastry career at the age of 20. After spending time at Paris’s legendary Lenôtre, during which he entered and won the Meilleur Ouvrier de France Compétition, Atlan became the Executive Chocolate Chef at Disneyland Paris, and eventually one of the world’s only chocolate consultants, traveling extensively to work with chocolate brands looking to elevate their products. He’s known not only for expert chocolate technique, but flavor development, and even chocolate sculpture. (Amaury Guichon, of The School of Chocolate fame, is a former student of Atlan’s.)

When Atlan moved his family to New York, having been recruited initially to work for Lania Jacobs at patisserie Sugar & Plumm, he didn’t necessarily know he was eventually going to start a family chocolate business.

From Father to Mentor

Julie Atlan was only 17 in 2013 when Thierry relocated to New York, coinciding with her starting her freshman year at NYU. Despite her father’s passion for chocolate, Julie says that was a path which didn’t necessarily occur to her. “Dad always pushed me and my sister to do whatever we wanted,” she says. What Julie wanted was to study business, but while attending classes at NYU mostly in the evenings, she used the opportunity of having time during the day to help out. “I was a bit bored during the day,” says Julie, “So I called my father to ask if there is anything I can do in the company.” Thierry gave her opportunities to help with marketing, which Julie became passionate about, and which ended up tailoring her business studies.

Julie consulted with her father throughout her college education. “In a way he became my mentor,” says Julie. “I would call him on an everyday basis to talk about what I had just discovered, or new leadership models.” Thierry not only shared his thoughts but was also receptive to her ideas. “I would give feedback based on what I was learning, and also get his point of view on certain things.”

A Family of Partners

Thierry and Julie photo credit Alex Staniloff

When Thierry Atlan decided to begin his own chocolate and macaron brand as a wholesale operation in 2015, he knew he wanted Julie to be part of the company. One of the first orders of business was that Julie convinced him to call the company by his own name. “We had to force him,” she says. “He was like, ‘no…maybe we call it something else,’ and I said ‘Nope! Your name,’” and that was that.

Despite still being very young, there was no question that Julie would be well-suited to run the business end of the brand. “When I started working with him, we already understood each other,” says Julie. “He didn’t have to tell me what to do.” As a boss/father/mentor figure, Julie says he is an especially fair and receptive one. “He always listened to my ideas,” she says. “Of course, everything’s not a great one, but he’s never said no yet to trying something.”

Learning to make the chocolate, however, wasn’t something she was particularly interested in trying. “I think that’s why we work so well together,” says Julie. “He’s a technician. He knows exactly how to make products and how production works. I’m more on the business side doing the operations. So we work together like this very well.” (Of note, Thierry’s wife and Julie’s mother also does all the design work for the brand. Julie’s sister is still in college studying pastry, but that certainly seems like a future, whole-family operation isn’t out of the question here.)

Thierry Atlan Soho: A Dream Realized

Thierry Atlan and Store Exterior photo credit Alex Staniloff

The natural expansion of the Thierry Atlan brand involved finding a retail space for a customer-facing operation to sell chocolates, macarons, and ice cream. “It’s always been my dream to have my own shop,” says Thierry, and the pandemic provided an opportunity to explore options. While Julie had spent about a year working outside the family business, (at La Colombe coffee, which now provides the coffee for the store,) she returned in a full capacity as Business Manager for Thierry Atlan when the search began for the right storefront.

Thierry Atlan Macarons photo credit Alex Staniloff

“Based on what we were making, it just felt like SoHo was the right fit,” says Julie. Now located at 436 West Broadway, in the heart of SoHo’s shopping and dining district, the austere Thierry Atlan shop has chocolate-hued fixtures, providing a neutral canvas that allows the brightly-colored macarons to pop and draw people in from the street. (This happened at least half a dozen times in my short visit on what would otherwise be a sleepy weekday afternoon.)

Macarons are made from almonds that the company grinds itself, filled with homemade jams or ganache. “Dad loves flavors that are bold,” says Julie. “When you taste it, you should know exactly what it is. You shouldn’t be thinking, ‘what am I trying?’”

Thierry Atlan Chocolates photo credit Alex Staniloff

For chocolates, which are offered as bars, as well as elegant square bonbons and caramel dome forms, Thierry created flavors that could both appeal to the American palate, and satisfy his French heritage, such as peanut butter and cappuccino, but also feuilletine, jasmine, and fresh mint, among many others. He uses Valrhona chocolate exclusively, and he blends a couple of different percentages for his couverture.

One last detail caught my eye in the store, a portrait and bio of Thierry hanging on the wall, which Julie remarked on. Similar to his reticence to use his name for the brand, “He said, ‘do I have to put my face there?” she recalls. “It took me three months to get his photo. He’s so humble, but it’s good. I’d rather have a father like this.”