Rachel Hanretty graduated from the University of St Andrews with a degree in English and French. She is now the Director of Mademoiselle Macaron; a Parisian cafe in Edinburgh which brings French macarons to Scotland. Rachel works on her business full time.
How Mademoiselle Macaron got started
Rachel wanted to start her business when she returned to Scotland after a year of living in Paris. She felt like there wasn’t a good selection of macarons on offer in Edinburgh so started baking in her kitchen. She heard about SIE through the careers service at the University of St Andrews and got involved in the business competitions where she pitched her idea for Mademoiselle Macaron.
What happened next
Although she had always been entrepreneurial – she set up a jewellery company at the age of 13 – once Rachel graduated, she moved into a professional job within a political organisation and expected to be in an office environment for the rest of her working life.
After a short while, Rachel started to make macarons again in her kitchen. The business grew quickly from there until Rachel realised she could no longer juggle a part time job and her business. She then decided to commit to developing Mademoiselle Macaron full time.
Rachel started attended local food markets in 2013 and went to on launch her first café and patisserie in May 2014. She has also held a number of successful macaron classes.
Next steps for Mademoiselle Macaron
Rachel is developing new packaging so she can send macarons to customers throughout Britain. She’s also looking to expand her current premises to have a bigger café and wide range of food to include both sweet and savoury treats.
If you want to find out more about Mademoiselle Macaron, visit the website; www.mademoisellemacaron.co.uk