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Picardy
In Beauvais, a baker created a flan in 2011 that, fourteen years later, became the ‘best in France’ — and will soon be sold in Mexico.
Pastry or bakery speciality from Picardy.
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Maison Savary opened its doors in 1981, in a family bakery in Beauvais, in the Oise. Benoît Savary, who learnt the trade alongside his father from childhood, was awarded the title of Meilleur Jeune Boulanger de France in 1994, as well as a master craftsman diploma in pastry-making.
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In 2011, Benoît Savary developed an artisanal flan recipe for his bakery. A year later, the mayor of Beauvais, Caroline Cayeux, officially recognised the flan as a speciality of the town. Success soon outgrew the original shop: by 2014, demand exceeded the original bakery's capacity, and in 2018 a new partner, Paul Jaffré, teamed up with Benoît Savary to open a dedicated workshop. In April 2019, production exceeded 1,700 flans a week; today it reaches around 1,500 flans a day, at the Chambly workshop, still in the Oise.
In 2025, Paul Burckart, sous-chef pâtissier of the house, won first prize in the Concours du Meilleur Flan de France with the vanilla recipe. This accolade accompanies an export venture: in November 2026, Maison Savary is set to open a 170 m² shop in a bustling neighbourhood of Mexico, where the recipe — kept secret — will be recreated almost identically by teams trained in France. ‘It's a real thrill to be able to sell French products internationally,’ says Paul Jaffré, head of the company; Julie Aubin, now a partner, had discovered the flan while living in Mexico before launching the project.
The name ‘flan picard’ does not always refer to the same product: some sources also use it for another regional tart, the tarte à l'badrée — a yeast-dough tart filled with a saucepan-cooked custard, the ‘badrée’. Maison Savary's flan, made with puff pastry and containing no fruit, is a recent commercial creation with no established link to this other tradition.
Appearance
Round puff-pastry tart, filled with a Madagascar vanilla custard.
Taste
Madagascar vanilla, milky and sweet.
the original recipe, made with Madagascar vanilla paste.
variations distributed by the house.
variations planned for the Mexico opening.
sold partially baked, in a wooden mould, in two sizes: 900 g or 1,400 g.
the customer finishes baking in the oven before serving.
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Sold partially baked, the flan picard is finished in the oven before eating, plain with vanilla or in a more indulgent variation — hazelnut, speculoos, chocolate, or coconut. It can also be ordered for delivery throughout France.
Maison Savary's flan picard holds no PDO (AOP), AOC, PGI (IGP), TSG (STG), Label Rouge, or organic certification: it is a modern artisanal creation from a single house, distinguished by a professional competition — 1st prize in the Concours du Meilleur Flan de France 2025 — rather than by an official quality mark.
No producer is listed for this product yet.