La Madeleine Country French Café was founded in February 1983 by Patrick Esquerré, a Loire Valley-born businessman. With the advice and support of legendary retail magnate Stanley Marcus, of Neiman Marcus fame, and his mother, Monique, Esquerré opened his first la Madeleine bakery on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, Texas near Southern Methodist University and it soon expanded to a café. While managing that location, Esquerré has said that employees nicknamed him "Papi" (Spanish for father) and he thought of them as his children.

In 1998, Esquerré resigned and La Madeleine was sold to four investment companies. In 2001, the company was sold again to Groupe Le Duff, a French restaurant chain company owned by Louis Le Duff, and co-purchasers Lapointe Rosenstein and Cadigan Investment Partners, for an undisclosed amount.

In 2008, the company caused outrage after discontinuing the free side of bread after 20 years due to wheat costs and started charging 49 cents. In addition, the restaurants only offered sourdough bread with certain items that were purchased such as entrées, soups and salads. However, the discontinuation was recalled three days later with the suggestion that customers not waste the food after La Madeleine allegedly received a "couple hundred responses...mostly complaints".