Le Big Mac: Mother-daughter duo rapidly grows treat business

Rosalie Guillem hasn’t officially been an American citizen too long — seven years — but the savvy businesswoman has been here long enough to pick up several stateside entrepreneurial staples.

Dreaming big, for one. Like with Le Macaron, the French patisserie business Guillem co-founded with her daughter, Audrey Guillem-Saba, in Sarasota in 2009. As it hits the decade mark, the company’s footprint includes a few corporate owned stores; some 50 franchise locations, from Florida to California and New Hampshire to Arizona; and another 30 in development. The company, mostly behind its flagship delicacy, an airy but decadent macaron that’s different from an American macaroon — a biscuit-like treat usually with coconut and sugar — did $11 million in sales in 2018. (Le Macaron’s macarons are made with nongluten ingredients and have about 80 calories a piece.) More stature? The company made the Inc. 5,000 list of the nation’s fastest growing companies in 2016 and posted 259% growth over three years.