La Madeleine’s new indulgent French toast lineup. | Photo courtesy of La Madeleine
La Madeleine is hoping Americans will embrace the French tradition of the afternoon snack (le goûter) or perhaps an apéritif before dinner.
Except in La Madeleine’s case, that afternoon snack might be a plate of indulgent Crème Brûlée French Toast, and the apéritif is a $5 mimosa.
It’s a decidedly more Americanized twist and part of a menu revitalization for the French-inspired bakery-café chain that rolled out this week.
La Madeleine is repositioning as a “brunch-all-day” concept, though it’s actually always had brunch all day. CEO and President John Dillon, who took the helm of the Dallas-based chain a little more than a year ago, said the menu rollout is designed in part to raise awareness at a time when brunch is in high demand.
“A lot of our guests didn’t know you could order brunch all day,” he said.
New dishes, for example, include:
- Crème Brulee French Toast, with golden French toast stacked with layers of crème brulee and topped with whipped topping and maple syrup;
-
The Frenchie, a croissant prepared French-toast-style layered with crème anglaise and mascarpone, blackberry jam, fresh berries and almond crumble;
- Hot Honey Ham & Fromage with ham and four melted cheeses in a panini and drizzled with hot honey.
There’s also an updated Café Club sandwich, and improved classic French toast, which is thicker and fluffier than previous iterations, Dillon said.
And in a barbell strategy, last year La Madeleine also added a more-value-positioned Le Pick 3 menu, allowing guests to choose two food items and a beverage for $8.99. A second tier with more premium options was added at $10.99.
The menu overall was also slimmed down a bit to simplify operations.
In fact, simplification and efficiency were a big part of Dillon’s overall mission when he joined the brand last year. La Madeleine is owned by France-based Groupe Le Duff, which operates a number of brands across five continents.
La Madeleine is almost entirely in the U.S. (though there are two units in India) and two-thirds of those domestic units are franchised. With about 87 units total currently, the chain has shrunk slightly from the 91 cafes at the end of 2024.
Now the bakery-café concept is readying for net growth again, with a goal of hitting 150 cafes domestically by 2030. That will be mostly franchised growth, and Dillon sees huge potential in nontraditional locations, particularly airports and universities. (The chain includes 11 non-traditional units currently).
La Madeleine is also shrinking its restaurant size.
The chain has a new prototype design with a smaller footprint, which is about 3,000- to 3,200-square feet, compared with the more traditional units that are 4,500- to 5,000-square feet.
The first two locations with the smaller footprint and new design are scheduled to open in Texas later this year. (In a few weeks, a unit with the smaller footprint is scheduled to open in Nashville, though that location won’t sport the new design.)
The smaller cafes will offer better unit economics, but Dillon said they still preserve what he argues is the soul of the 43-year-old bakery-café chain: the emotional warmth of the brand.
The chain’s transformation strategy, dubbed “Ignite the Joy,” is designed to re-establish La Madeleine as that “third place” where people gather to sit with a cup of coffee and croissant.
Dillon, for example, is bringing back fireplaces in all restaurants.
“You can go to Houston in August and you’ll still see people gathered around the fireplace,” he said. “It’s less about the heat and more about the visual and what it does emotionally.”
Last year, the units also brought back complimentary bread and jam, a self-service option for guests that had gone away in the COVID-19 years.
It’s an element of hospitality that is self-policed, he said. “It’s about trust and belief in our guests.”
Still, about 50% of sales are off-premise. La Madeleine has done some work on its digital ordering, to-go packaging and execution.
The chain is also testing kiosk ordering as an option for guests.
There’s more work to do, said Dillon.
Catering, now about 10% of sales, is an opportunity for growth.
La Madeleine is working on upgrading its coffee program, which is a change coming this year.
The chain has expanded its beverages, with new Refreshers launched last summer and the more recent Parisian Hot Chocolate, which Dillon said was a hit.
The U.S. is enjoying somewhat of a bakery-café boom, led largely by the rapid growth of brands like Paris Baguette, born in Korea, which opened about 80 cafes in 2025 for a total of about 270 in the U.S. and Canada. Tous les Jours, also Korean-born, has more than 160 U.S. outlets.
La Madeleine, meanwhile, is the largest actually-French-owned brand, though the chain now calls itself “French-inspired,” rather than French.
“French food can be perceived as unapproachable or too expensive, or not as craveable,” he said. “Moving from French to French-inspired opens the aperture.”
By the end of 2025, both sales and traffic were positive, said Dillon, indicating the Ignite the Joy strategy is paying off.
“People are noticing La Madeleine is back,” said Dillon. “And La Madeleine is on fire.”
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
