Le Fournil Chamoniard — Restaurant in Bonneville

Very sad that this once amazing and favourite bakery of ours for more than 20 years was sold. Now it is sub-standard and mostly industrial - even though they "promised" the old owner that they would not change the recipes, they most certainly have done so and it is disgusting and sad to witness - they should be forced to change the name because it is so different.

Most importantly, the quality of the baked goods has gone very much downhill. All the baked goods are in general very undercooked (croissant crisp on outside, but wet on the inside, baguettes not having a good crust and too moist on the inside)

From the taste and texture, they must be using cheaper flour

The pastries and tarts are not as nice as the original owner who was a genius at creating pastries (crust for the tarts has been totally changed and is no longer a pleasant flavour - rather a lack of flavour.)

In anything with a filling there is less fruit or chocolate used, the quiches have fewer fillings and quiches are also very undercooked ... and the pastry on them is not nice anymore.

Secondly - the majority of the staff that I have encountered (I visited mainly in the mornings) are not well trained, so the process of ordering more than 1 item during any visit is painful as you will need to repeat yourself many times. In fact - it seems like the young staff have no short term memory at all ... not even 1 second later you must repeat the order, and then AGAIN repeat it, and again ... for each and every time they must get something else. What is the point of asking my order if you then do not bother to retain it ?? (this experience has been repeated for me during multiple visits since the bakery was sold by the original owner in early 2023. I thought maybe over time this problem would improve but it seems not so).

Is this lack of paying attention to customers the result of watching too much TikTok ?? Serious question ... I have been waited on by several different young people there in the past few months and all of them seem to be having the same problem remembering an order from 1 second to the next. This means the queue moves very slowly. Much worse than in the original bakery where the staff were good and quick.

Thirdly, I have been told by people in the know that for some bread items the dough is driven to Chamonix from Aix les Bains - so only a few things are still made on site and other things are in fact, industrial operations not local.

And for all this lower quality and service - the prices have gone up. Even better !

It seems they are having staffing problems too - I keep seeing different people when I go in at the same time each day (not difficult to understand why - who wants to work in a bakery that used to be wonderful and now is terrible ... and apparently does not care enough to train the work staff .... )

So, this has been a very depressing review to note that what was our family's favourite bakery in France has turned into a mess in such a short time.

We used to buy all our cakes and holiday treats here, bread daily ... now we just have stopped going after having so many incidents of dealing with poorly trained staff or biting into a very disappointing bread or croissant. Instead, we make some things at home, or we go to the only non-industrial bakery left in Chamonix, or to the one in les Houches.

I suggest the town of Chamonix needs to try to actively recruit someone to open a large artisanal bakery on the outskirts of town again - it is sad and truly unacceptable that Chamonix can only attract industrial bakers due to the high rents.

I think that the Richard bakery is now the only one that is still making their items daily in Chamonix. And they are very small and in town centre, so not as convenient for anyone living outside of the centre of town.

Fournil Chamoniard also supplies the satellite bakeries of the same name in Argentiere and Chamonix Aiguille du Midi, with the big main location is Chem. de la Resse near the bus terminal in les Pelerins ... the products are...

Stank attitudes. The food is great, I have been coming since last year but recently I have been met with terrible service , not by the younger staff mind you, it’s always the miserable middle aged woman who never seems to be doing anything when there’s long queues and when she is serving she’s abrupt and dismissive. It’s been more than one occasion and I know people are human but it’s not the customers fault if she is joyless, I’m not expecting red carpet treatment but it’s not unreasonable to expect some modicum...

Love love love this bakery. A must for every morning in Chamonix. We’d pop in for our croissants and coffee in the morning and pick up a couple of sandwiches for lunch on the slopes. Never spent over €10. Everything was absolutely delicious. Highly recommend the Canadian, nutty based pastry with maple syrup. Staff are really friendly and muddled through our dodgy french with aplomb. Please go, you won’t be disappointed. Way cheaper than buying food...