When you’ve baked in your blood, it shows. So was the case with Amaury Guichon, who at the tender age of 14 was already working in savory at the Ecole Hoteliere Savoie Leman, Thonon-Les-Bains, France, when he moved to France from Switzerland. Here he underwent on-the-job training for two years.
Working here didn’t quite satisfy Guichon’s thirst for creativity in culinary arts. So, he moved back to Switzerland to focus on his passion for pastry making. He joined Wolfsberg College and in two years gained expertise in making pastries. So good was he in this art that he was awarded the first place in the Apprentice Chocolate Showpiece Contest.
During his training, Guichon realized his love for chocolate and he moved back to France to complete the last phase of his pastry education in Paris at Lenotre. Here he won the gold medal for ‘Best Apprentice of France’. He got his first break in Cannes, French Riviera, where he was appointed instructor at the Lenotre shop. Here he took culinary classes for amateurs and mentored five apprentices. Here too, he won the prestigious pastry contest ‘Les Delices de la Mediteranee’.
In 2012, Guichon was offered the position of Executive Chef of Hugo & Victor in Paris, where he was responsible for all its three locations. Although he successfully discharged his duties here, this again was not his calling. He decided to shift to the US to start a new career. He joined the Jean Philippe Patisserie in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked for three years.
Traveling the world, learning from different cultures, and teaching high-level pastry skills was an excellent exposure that added to Guichon’s rich experiences in both teaching and pastry making skills. It also encouraged him to branch out on his own. So, in 2017, he opened his Pastry Academy in Las Vegas.
Such is Guichon’s passion for chocolate sculpting that he can create anything from chocolate. In 2017, he created the famous hundred percent chocolate sculpture of a nautilus. Today, he enjoys the following of a whopping 2.4 million fans on Instagram alone and counting.
Amaury Guichon