Press Room
Harold Levillair
Everything a reporter needs: fast facts, a biography, the coverage and the films.
Fast Facts
- Name
- Harold Levillair
- Born
- 1976
- Nationality
- French
- Based in
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates, since 2025
- Languages
- French, English
- Career
- Paris, Shanghai, New York, the Riviera, Dubai
- Technology
- Commercial director of iBazar, absorbed by eBay in 2001
- Retail
- Founder of PAUL China; Pavilion Costes, Shanghai; chief executive of Le Pain Quotidien for France and franchise owner
- Today
- Building an infrastructure that links digital capital to real-world assets
- Website
- haroldlevillair.com
Biography
Harold Levillair is a French entrepreneur based in Dubai. He began in technology as commercial director of iBazar, the auction site eBay absorbed in 2001. He then moved into retail. In Shanghai, he brought the bakery brand PAUL to mainland China as founder and chief executive of PAUL China, opened nine bakeries in twenty months, launched Pavilion Costes and sold his group to a Chinese retail group. In France, he ran Le Pain Quotidien’s French business for a brand run from New York, and was a franchise owner himself. He is now building an infrastructure that links digital capital to real-world assets.
Coverage
What The Press Reported
23 October 2008, televisionCCTV International“French cuisine wins fans in Shanghai”A report on French food in Shanghai. It presents him as chief executive and founder of PAUL China.Read The StoryShanghai Young BakersNewsletter, PDFMarch 2009, charity newsletterShanghai Young BakersInterview of the month: PAUL ChinaLaurence Levillair on why PAUL China takes part in the programme and trains its young bakers.Read The StoryShanghai DailyArchive. A reader account is required2009, daily pressShanghai Daily“French opulence splashes out in Xintiandi”The opening of Pavilion Costes. It mentions nine PAUL bakeries opened in twenty months.Read The Story
30 May 2014, trade pressL’Hôtellerie Restauration“Le Pain Quotidien s’implante à Cannes”The opening on the Croisette. It presents him as directeur général of Le Pain Quotidien Provence, in charge of developing the French market.Read The Story
What He Talks About
- Opening a French food brand in China.
- Developing a franchise, store by store.
- Selling a group to a local buyer.
- Building financial technology in the Gulf.
The Q&A
Harold Levillair answers the questions he is asked most often, with references, in the Q&A on haroldlevillair.com. It also carries a statement on an anonymous website.
Photos
The portrait on this page may be reproduced.
Usage
The biography on this page may be reproduced.
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