Holder began working for his parents in 1953 after they took over a pastry shop belonging to the Paul family and decided to keep its name.
In 1965, operating from a bakehouse in Lambersart, Holder began supplying Nouvelles Galeries in Lille with bread.
By 1970, he was able to expand his business into the mass retail sector through his purchase of a property at La Madeleine in the suburbs of Lille where he established his first Moulin Bleu bakery plant.
Taking note of an emerging rustic trend for storefronts, he decided to reestablish the use of a traditional wheat in creating a new line of loaves.
The concept was first tested in 1993 in Marcq-en-Barœul (in Lille) and, with 1000 customers visiting the bakery daily, the next four years saw the development of three more in the North.