Maison Buet

Anita and Laurent Buet, both trained in pastry and confectionery, opened this bakery-chocolaterie in Lausanne in 2000. What began as a single counter grew into a team of roughly 35 people producing bread, pastry and chocolate across two addresses in the city — a café-boutique on Rue Grand St-Jean and a shop on Rue Haldimand — with everything made in the founders' own workshop rather than brought in from elsewhere.

The city recognized the business as Lausanne's official chocolatier from 2018 to 2020, a title tied to its chocolate rather than its bread or pastry, though all three are produced under the same roof. The founders describe their approach plainly: "We are not better than others, we are different," a line that sits alongside stated values of quality, hospitality, ecology and indulgence.

A quarter-century after opening, Maison Buet still runs on the same premise it started with — one workshop making everything the counters sell, open early at 6 a.m. and staying open through the evening on weekdays. Growth here has meant more staff and two addresses rather than outside investment or a shift toward wholesale.