Brothers Guillaume and Romain Luyat take pride in the fact that their favorite treat, the eclair, is so popular in their home town of Lyon, where their shop Les Eclaireurs resides.
“Lyon is known for several different products, most notably pink praline,” says Guillaume. “So it’s logical that we would create the praline eclair.” This flavor is one of the brothers’ signature confections, with a cream filling made with the candy coated almonds. The praline eclair is just one of the brothers’ 30 sweet eclair recipes, which include flavors like classic chocolate, vanilla, as well as more creative takes like matcha, passionfruit, and lemon. Les Eclaireurs also offers savory varieties in their shops’ rotation, like carrot, salmon, and bacon with nuts. “And we’re always inventing new ones,” adds Romain.
Guillaume left his job in the manufacturing industry to start the business with his brother. “Romain is really the pastry chef, he’s the artist. I take care of the business development. But at the beginning, we were both making the pastries in the morning,” he says of their hands-on approach in the early days of their business. “Today we have a team of professionals with us so it’s easier to produce large quantities,” finishes Romain. These teams help the brothers bring their variety of eclairs to life, to the tune of 500 pastries every week day, and between 1,500 and 2,000 on the weekend at their three shops in Lyon.
“I’ve always eaten eclairs, since I was a kid, and they were always something that I loved,” says Romain. “So I wanted to share that with our customers, and to be able to express ourselves through this unique product.”
