Meet Pauline Acheron-Pintureau – Helping to Revolutionise Londoners’ Lunches

We wanted to share a story from one of our community members which was published in our online Winter magazine. Discover how Pauline Acheron-Pintureau founded her business in 2021 and partners with social enterprise,  catering and cargo delivery companies to help achieve her mission.

My name is Pauline Acheron-Pintureau. I am the owner of Marie et Marcelle, a women-led business delivering fresh and seasonal lunches to London businesses and individuals. Marie et Marcelle offers a menu that changes weekly and blossoms with the seasons. The food is prepared with carefully selected produce that are sourced as locally as possible.

The business was established in 2021 with the mission to shake up the approach to food at work. I spent eight years working for large organisations in London, experienced the hectic London life and realised, to my despair, that lunch breaks tend to be often underrated. In 2021, I left my role working in an investment bank to come back to the food industry where I started my professional career, 15 years ago, training as a chef. With Marie et Marcelle, I deliver to offices delicious food that makes my customers want to take their lunch break.

I started Marie et Marcelle on my own and until now have been running it independently. However, I would not be able to do it without the support of my network of like-minded individuals. Two freelance chefs help me with the production when there is a surge in activity and they do have availability. These ladies are themselves trained chefs and have their own independent food businesses (baking goods). On occasions, I also partner with a London-based social enterprise and catering company (9kitchens) that provides training and facilitates employment to women who have faced barriers to employment. When it comes to deliveries, I outsource this to a cargo-bike delivery company.

The Marie et Marcelle menu is inspired by my French heritage and is a tribute to my grand and great-grand mothers, Marie et Marcelle, who used to run the family farm in Charente, France.

When I was younger, I would spend most of the holidays with my cousins and sister at our grandparents’ farm. Each season was rich with happy moments. Winter at the farm was characterised by the yearly family reunions, spending time together by the fireplace in the kitchen. Each person took a role in putting together a feast; a tradition that remains in place to this day.

It was by my grandmother’s side, “Mamie” Marcelle, carefully watching her movements, that I learned how to cook. She passed down to me her love for food and taught me how to prepare the beautiful ingredients that came from our soil. At the time, everything cooked and consumed at the farm would come from the gardens, the farm or neighbouring farms. My grandmother had inherited the farm, her love for food and amazing cooking skills from her mother, Marie.

Cooking has always been a refuge; where a simple taste or texture can whisk me back to those magical memories of my youth. This new chapter, back in the culinary world, is a tribute to “Mamie” Marcelle and her mother Marie. And it is a shining wish; to share this part of my heritage with you.

You can read the full feature and find out more about Marie et Marcelle in our FREE Winter 2022/3 Magazine