Anass Echcharkaoui doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth. Ironically, he spends most of his time concocting batters, drizzling chocolate and making thick waffles for his dessert shop, Bonjour.
Echcharkaoui took a leap of faith and opened the eatery’s first location in Ichiban Square shortly after moving to Baton Rouge in 2020. He found curating the menu an exciting challenge.
“If you’re hungry, you go to eat real food,” he says. “But you go for sweets after you eat. When you eat something and you’re not that hungry, you’re going to be picky and taste everything.”
Growing up in Morocco, Echcharkaoui remembers his mother always making desserts for family events. He credits his time with her in the kitchen as the main inspiration behind Bonjour. After graduating high school, he headed to France to study finance. There, he worked part-time jobs in crêperies and coffee shops. He fell in love with the craft.
Eventually, Echcharkaoui found himself in the Capital Region and says he quickly realized a lack of variety in dessert-focused businesses. He sought out crêpes, but was met with options like doughnuts, cupcakes and the ever-so-close pancakes. So, he decided to put the techniques he’d honed in Paris and Toulouse to work.
“If I’m giving you a crêpe, you have to finish it,” he says. “(I don’t want) it to be something that’s too sweet. … The crêpe by itself is not too sweet. The combination of the chocolate and the fruit makes it a good level of sweetness.”
Echcharkaoui found inspiration from other countries, too. Before opening Bonjour, he spent time in Belgium with a pastry chef pal who taught him all about working with chocolate. When he decided to create a breakfast menu (set to debut this April), he traveled to Italy, where a family member in the restaurant biz taught him the ropes.
“When I do something, I say ‘No, it has to be good,’” Echcharkaoui says. “Because a lot of people are like me. I know some customers don’t come here a lot. Some diet. Some don’t eat a lot of sweets. But, they know when they do want to eat something sweet, they come straight to Bonjour.”
Though Echcharkaoui has other interests outside of work—like spending time with family, gaming and hitting the gym—he’s
almost always thinking about his craft. He says he’s constantly coming up with new recipes or scrolling on social media to learn techniques that’ll help create a next-level dessert experience at Bonjour.
And local sweets lovers have noticed. Echcharkaoui says Bonjour’s original location and its newer Denham Springs digs stay busy. He hopes to reach even more patrons with the new breakfast menu and other trendy dessert options he dreams up. Think: crêpes rolled up like sushi or stuffed with a Dubai chocolate bar filling.
His personal palate might favor salty and savory flavors, but professionally, Echcharkaoui is all about the sweets. bonjournas.com
This article was originally published in the March 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.
