French flavour house PROVA marked its 80th anniversary in London with an exclusive Afternoon Tea celebrating the company’s heritage in vanilla, cocoa, coffee, caramel and nuts.
Taking place at The Rubens at the Palace on 16 September 2026, the event brought together PROVA’s leadership and pastry chefs with food industry and foodservice professionals, offering a closer look at the French savoir-faire behind the business. The Afternoon Tea was developed collaboratively by PROVA’s chefs, with each creation designed to showcase the breadth of the company’s brown flavour expertise.
“Eighty years ago, my grandparents built this company on a simple belief: that understanding an ingredient properly, from the ground up, is what allows you to do something extraordinary with it. That belief still guides us today, across every aroma we work with. Celebrating this milestone in London, alongside the chefs who bring our savoir-faire to life on the plate, is a reminder of why heritage matters: it is not nostalgia, it is the foundation for what comes next,” said Muriel Acat, President, PROVA.
The menu was created by three pastry specialists: Tristan Rousselot, Head of Creation at PROVA Gourmet; Christophe Vicente, Pastry Chef at PROVA Industrie; and Benjamin Bourgeois, Pastry Chef at Ashford Castle.
Rousselot joined PROVA Gourmet following a career across some of France’s respected kitchens, including Christophe Michalak’s patisserie, restaurant Akrame and the Prince de Galles. Working alongside Vicente and Bourgeois, he has helped translate PROVA’s expertise across vanilla, cocoa, coffee, caramel and nuts into a menu spanning the company’s flavour portfolio.
“What we wanted to create together is a menu that reflects the breadth of what PROVA does, not just one ingredient. Working alongside other chefs on the same event pushes you to think differently about flavour,” said Rousselot.
For Vicente, the event also highlighted the relationship between professional flavour development and pastry craftsmanship. “At PROVA Industrie, our job is to make sure the same precision you’d expect in a pastry kitchen carries through into flavours made for professional use, wherever they end up. Taking part in this Afternoon Tea alongside Tristan and Benjamin is a good reminder that industrial expertise and craftsmanship come from the same rigour, not opposite worlds,” he said.
Founded in France in 1946 by Marcel and Jacqueline Acat and their partner, PROVA began with a proprietary vanilla extraction process at a time when the company says many competitors were purchasing vanilla on the open market. That focus on understanding raw materials at source has remained central to the business, alongside its relationships with growers and continued investment in extraction and flavour technologies.
Over eight decades, PROVA has expanded from its original vanilla expertise into a specialist portfolio covering cocoa, coffee, caramel, nuts, dairy and other indulgent notes. Its solutions are now supplied across sectors including biscuits and cereals, nutrition, dairy, confectionery, chocolate, ice cream and beverages.
Today, the third-generation family business generates approximately €120 million in annual turnover, with 80% of revenue coming from international markets. It operates across more than 70 countries through 12 subsidiaries and four production sites, employing 470 people. In 2024, PROVA opened its first production site outside France in Bangkok, strengthening its proximity to customers in Asian markets.
The business operates through two complementary divisions: PROVA Industrie, which develops flavour solutions for food manufacturers, and PROVA Gourmet, which supplies ingredients including vanilla pods, extracts, pastes, sugars and powders to chefs, artisans and foodservice professionals.
