In a move that will further elevate Dubai’s vibrant culinary landscape, Valrhona, a leading global name in sweet gastronomy, is set to open a new, state-of-the-art school in the Emirate in September.
Combining French savoir-faire with local culture
Valrhona’s decision to open a school in Dubai represents a response to increasing demand for high-quality professional training in the region.
Guillaume Lafaix, IMEA Business Unit manager at Valrhona Selection, noted that having had a presence in the Gulf countries since 2007 and witnessing the region’s culinary expansion since then, the time felt right to bring the brand’s expertise, built up over 100 years, to the UAE. “The strong growth in recent years, accelerated by a concentration of talented chefs in the area, led Valrhona naturally to pursue a fifth L’École Valrhona and make it available to international chefs at City Walk in Dubai,” he said.
Like its other renowned educational facilities worldwide, L’École Valrhona Dubai will set out to unite a multicultural community of chefs by promoting the development of its creations, while instilling in them the brand’s key values, which include excellence, commitment and responsibility.
Professionals will be immersed in a universe of culinary innovation, combining French savoir-faire and local cultures, in keeping with Valrhona’s longstanding traditions.
An ideal destination
Situated at the crossroads of Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Dubai shines as a global commercial, culinary and cultural hub, proudly displaying diverse influences and artistry at every turn.
Its cosmopolitan outlook and broad range of inspired gastronomic offerings are among the many reasons that Valrhona identified the Emirate as an ideal location to open its new school and continue
its mission to cultivate talents, develop technical skills and unleash pastry potential.
Surrounded by hotels and restaurants in the heart of a city where there is great enthusiasm for high-end cuisine, the new L’École Valrhona is poised to be both a center of excellence and a premier regional destination for sweet gastronomy professionals. This latest school will follow in the footsteps of L’Ecole Valrhona Tain L’Hermitage, Paris, Brooklyn and Tokyo.
An impressive team
Led by Brice Konan-Ferrand, executive pastry chef of L’École Valrhona Dubai, the school will encourage professionals to undertake new culinary discoveries, while acquiring and revisiting new technical skills. Brice Konan-Ferrand, who brings with him many years of experience specializing in pastry and chocolate acquired at L’Ecole Valrhona and prestigious global establishments, said: “Dubai has become the epicenter of top global gastronomy and we are delighted to bring our expertise in chocolate and pastry to our dynamic community.”
After working as a kitchen chef in Europe and Africa for a number of years, Brice Konan-Ferrand enrolled in Olivier Bajard (Best French Craftsmen, special discernment: Meilleur Ouvrier de France [MOF]) School to specialize in pastry. He then worked for Arnaud Lahrer (MOF) in Paris for seven years, before moving to Lyon with Sebastien Bouillet as a chocolate maker in charge of Production and Gourmet classes.
To test his willingness to take on new challenges, he participated in the television competition show ‘Qui sera le prochain grand Pâtissier?’ (Who will be the next great Pastry Chef?) France (2) and other competitions, including the European Sugar Art Challenge in Belfort. Konan-Ferrand joined L’École Valrhona in 2015, bolstered by the 12 years of experience he had gained and enriched by the people with whom he had shared his passion. After seven wonderful years in Asia-Pacific (APAC) at L’École Valrhona Tokyo, in November 2022, he took over as pastry chef of L’École Valrhona for the IMEA region in Dubai. He is now the new executive pastry chef of L’École Valrhona Dubai.
Brice Konan-Ferrand will be joined at L’École Valrhona Dubai by Fatima K. Rahman as assistant pastry chef, who has worked with many MOF chefs and trained under numerous award-winning experts. She brings technical skills, creative flair and experience gained abroad to her role, alongside a longstanding, unwavering love for her craft. “I worked with Valrhona couvertures at the start of my career and remain as passionate about chocolate today as ever, empowered and inspired by Valrhona’s innovative benchmark recipes,” she said.
Diverse and creative courses
L’École Valrhona Dubai’s offerings will include:
- Training – two-to-three-day workshops, led by L’École Valrhona’s training chefs, guest pastry chefs and exceptional artisans, covering various themes such as chocolate-making, vegan pastry, alternative desserts, creative viennoiseries, chocolate candies and holiday desserts.
- Technical business consulting – with L’École Valrhona pastry chef instructors visiting a client’s laboratory and providing a customized service.
- Conferences – technological insights into significant advancements in pastry and chocolate practices.
- Workshops – held in the laboratory and focused on key industry topics, with a program that moves from theory to practice, during which participants gain the tools and techniques to reproduce culinary creations.
- Demonstrations – presentations of the Valrhona range of products, offered through practical applications before a plenary assembly.
The courses will also reflect Valrhona’s forward-looking focus and innovative outlook, with topical subjects such as alternative desserts and plant-based pastry explored. High on this list will be a course titled ‘Reasoned Indulgence,’ led by Frédéric Bau, pastry explorer at Maison Valrhona. The impressive line-up of of chefs who will be leading the courses at L’École Valrhona Dubai includes: Fabrice David, executive chef of L’École Valrhona Tokyo; David Briand, MOF and executive chef of L’École Valrhona Tain L’Hermitage; Philippe Givre, executive chef and coordinator of know-how at L’École Tain L’Hermitage; Gianluca Fusto, co-founder of Fusto Milano; François Daubinet; or Louisa Lim, executive pastry chef at three-Michelin-starred Odette in Singapore, to name just a few.
Green initiatives a priority
Innovation is undoubtedly at the heart of everything that Valrhona does, as is sustainability. Unsurprisingly, therefore, L’École Valrhona Dubai is equipped with state-of-the-art, cutting-edge machines which are highly energy efficient, in line with the company’s commitment to sustainable practices. The equipment has been designed to minimize electricity usage and enhance water management by handling greywater and steam effectively. Work on waste management and the overall valorization of ingredients to reduce food waste have also been focal points for L’École Valrhona
Dubai, underscoring the brand’s well-established dedication to excellence and environmental stewardship in culinary education. In keeping with Valrhona’s green values, plastic use has been excluded from the laboratories and replaced with eco-responsible materials.
Making use of technical skills Philippe Rigollot, the award-winning MOF mentor for the initiative and whose illustrious career in pastry and chocolate-making is well documented, said that for him, L’École Valrhona Dubai represented everything that a school of culinary creativity and expertise should embody. “It’s about transmitting and sharing knowledge, learning from everyone, and working on the evolution of pastry with new techniques and products,” he said. “It’s also about committing to the new challenges of our profession, such as eco-responsibility, traceability and the origin of products. It is an honor for me to be the mentor of L’École Valrhona Dubai, which will shine a light on French pastry and chocolate-making in this beautiful region of the world. Long live pastry! Long live chocolate-making! Long live knowledge-sharing!”
The opening of L’École Valrhona Dubai will mark the next chapter in a success story that dates back to 1922, when pastry chef Albéric Guironnet organized a workshop in the Rhone Valley, France. He later developed a chocolate manufacturing business dedicated
to serving fellow chocolatiers, which he named Valrhona. The premium chocolate manufacturer’s facilities in Tain L’Hermitage remain to this day, with the highly regarded and respected practices passed down through the generations. Simultaneously forward thinking, Valrhona has also played an active role in shifting the status quo toward a fairer, more sustainable cocoa industry, in line with its mission statement, which is: ‘Together, good becomes better,’ and their B Corp certification, gained in January 2020.
More about L’École Valrhona
L’École Valrhona was born 34 years ago from the joint desire of Valrhona and Frédéric Bau to transmit excellent know-how and reveal the talents of taste artisans from around the world. This transmission is a promise of learning, encounters and enrichment, which comes to life thanks to the school’s network – one that extends to the four corners of the world – while guaranteeing everyone support and chocolate expertise. Faithful to the spirit of the Tain L’Hermitage campus, an iconic place for an entire profession, the Valrhona School campuses have been developed in Tokyo, Paris, Brooklyn and now Dubai. These centers of expertise, dedicated to the best of chocolate know-how and creativity, are where 40 pastry chefs of the Valrhona School offer excellent training programs, ranging from initiation and perfecting gestures to precision techniques. They are places for sharing among chocolate enthusiasts, where everyone is allowed to develop their talent, but above all, can enrich themselves through contact with others and constantly push the limits of creativity.
