In December 1928, a young housewife and mother, Mona Chesterfield, opened a fantastic little cake shop in the high street of Leamington Spa. Mona was very passionate and worked really hard every night, baking traditional English cakes in her domestic gas cooker. They decided to call the business “Elisabeth”, after Mr Chesterfield’s sister, as “Mona’ was felt to be too exotic a name and they added ”the Chef” to describe their aspirations to create and serve fantastic food.

 

The shop quickly became a success, selling cakes, pastries and delicious savoury pies and also began to offer a range of teas. The business rapidly expanded and more beautiful shops opened across the Midlands, building its reputation as a unique place to savour quality products and where to have a relaxing and indulgent time with friends.

 

In the 1950s, the Chesterfield family started to make fine pastries using recipes brought back from the Continent. Pastry chefs from Switzerland and Austria joined Elisabeth the Chef to make some truly stunning products which all helped to firmly secure our reputation for fine cakes and pastries.

 

On the 1st December 1969, the family opened its first manufacturing site with great success and soon began to supply retailers such as M&S and Harrods.

 

In the autumn of 2007, the company was acquired by ‘Groupe Senoble’, a French family-owned company that is heavily investing in existing manufacturing sites to further improve our standards and capabilities.

 

After more than 80 years, Elisabeth the Chef still makes great cakes, pastries and new desserts.