Louis Fouquet, chocolatier on the Rue Laffitte since 1852

Louis Fouquet, the chocolatier and confectioner on the Rue Laffitte, opened his first shop in 1852 at number 36, near the Grands Boulevards. A lover of jams and sweets, he began with confectionery before turning to chocolate.

The house took the squirrel as its emblem, an animal once called a ‘fouquet’. In the early 20th century the Chambeau-Mimard family took it over; a tea room served a honey cake, and a second shop opened on the Rue François-Iᵉʳ in 1928. Claude Monet, Gertrude Stein, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent were among its clients.

The family still owns it: Catherine and Frédéric Chambeau, the fifth generation, run the house. Pralines are made the old way, with hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios caramelised in copper pans, and the house holds the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label. A shop opened on the Avenue Montaigne in October 2023.

On the Rue Laffitte, in the 9th arrondissement, the original shop also houses part of the workshops. It sells pralines, fruit jellies, violet fondants and salvators, soft caramels coated in crisp caramel and dipped by hand.