Lefèvre-Utile, better known worldwide by the initials LU, is a French manufacturer brand of biscuits, emblematic of the city of Nantes. The brand is now part of US confectionery company Mondelēz International since 2012, after splitting of its previous owner Kraft Foods Inc., which had acquired it as part of its acquisition from Groupe Danone in 2007. The Petit-Beurre biscuit remains the flagship product alongside the Ladyfinger, Champagne, Petit four, Prince de LU, Pim's, Paille d'Or, etc.
LU factory in Nantes, pictured in 2011
Petit Beurre biscuit, 1886
Advertisement for LU Champagne Biscuits, Alfons Mucha, 1896
Advertisement for Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile, Alfons Mucha, 1897
Nantes is a city in Loire-Atlantique of France on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 320,732 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabitants (2020). With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms one of the main north-western French metropolitan agglomerations.
Image: Panorama depuis Butte Sainte Anne
Image: Cour intérieure du château des ducs de Bretagne (Nantes) (7339052946)
Image: Nantes passage pommeraye
Image: Ile de Nantes