Chef Sanjana PatelCreative Director & Executive Chef at La Folie

Since her first bite into the fresh handmade almond chocolate bar at Mohan Store in Ooty, Chef
Sanjana Patel’s relationship with chocolate began. This relationship, one that of reverence, love, and
discovery is what she brings to La Folie’s principles as a Creative Director and Executive Chef.
Since its inception in 2014, La Folie has been a beloved name for indulgent desserts that blend rare
ingredients, tantalizing textures, and exquisite flavours, a result of Chef Sanjana’s passion for French
entremet-style pastries. Her love for cacao, curiosity and adoration, took her on a journey of
exploration, one that led her on an adventurous road trip to numerous cacao farms across the world,
to its native origins.

This journey resulted in La Folie’s craft chocolate creations. At the heart of La Folie lies their pursuit
of ethically sourced, fine-flavoured, and single-origin cacao. The ethos of ethical chocolate begins
right from providing cacao farmers with fair prices to the chocolate-making process which includes
the use of all-natural ingredients, carefully curated by Chef Sanjana to complement the quality of
cacao. The small-batch chocolate factory in Mumbai skillfully weaves these tales into every
meticulously crafted confection. At La Folie, Chef Sanjana displays an unwavering dedication to
celebrating the essence of cocoa in all its glory.

Today, she works with more than 800 farmers directly and sources organic single-origin cacao from
fair-trade cooperatives in India and abroad. In her pursuit of a different taste journey, Sanjana Patel
has championed sustainability and locality in the culinary realm. Her commitment goes beyond just
green measures and practices and towards building a unique socio-economic enterprise where
cacao farmers are at the highest level in the value chain. La Folie has adopted best practices for
post-harvest processes of Indian cacao. This has reduced the carbon footprint, as well as created
more direct trade opportunities, small cooperative communities, and job opportunities for cacao
farmers.

Chef Sanjana's avant-garde approach to pastry and chocolate-making has captivated the palates of
chocolate enthusiasts globally, firmly establishing her as a revolutionary force in the culinary world.
She has been redefining the chocolate and pastry industry with her passion, innovation, and
unwavering commitment to excellence. The plate is her canvas. She paints it with flavour strokes
honed at the reputed Ecolé Grégoire Ferrandi in Paris and then, as an apprentice with Pierre Hermé.
Her résumé includes stints with global heavyweights like Patrick Roger, Olivier Bajard, and Chefs
Cristophe Michalik and Alain Ducasse (at Hotel Plaza Athénée in the Dorchester Collection).
At heart, she is a passionate artist. With her immense talent, Sanjana has attained national and
global accolades, including the titles of ‘India’s Pastry Queen’ (2015) and the ‘4th best Pastry Chef
for 2016’ and the World Pastry Queen Competition and recently as Jury Approved Patisserie
Chef of the Year by T&L Dining Awards (2023) and listed in 40 Under 40 India’s Star Chef by
Conde Nast Traveller in 2020.

Over the years, Chef Sanjana's journey has been a testament to the power of passion and
perseverance. She aims contribute towards creating a farmer cooperative programme to raise funds
so cacao farmers can help each other to improve crop fertility and also want to work towards
government grants and sponsorships to gather funds for the post-harvesting process and crop yields
and liaise with other chocolate makers to support cacao farmers with preorder systems.
As she continues to push the boundaries of culinary art, her vision for La Folie extends beyond
borders, with plans to make her mark on the global map.