-
by Restaurants Expert
- March 13, 2026
Austin, TX – Paris Baguette has announced that one of its Texas locations has been recognized with the “Excellent Café of the Year 2025” award, a distinction that highlights outstanding product quality, guest experience, and team performance within the brand’s rapidly expanding U.S. network.
The Texas café earned the honor after a year of strong results, including consistently high internal quality-audit scores, exemplary execution of the brand’s signature pastries and cakes, and excellent guest satisfaction feedback. The award also reflects the store’s ability to maintain Paris Baguette’s standards while managing sustained growth in sales and traffic throughout 2025.
Production and Training Team Behind the Success
At the heart of this success is the work of the production and training team that supports multiple cafés across the region. Among them is District Production Manager and pastry chef Marco Lusso, whose role has been central in elevating product quality and team capabilities in Texas and other states.
Marco Lusso’s Background in Artisanal Pastry
Lusso, an Italian pastry chef with a background in artisanal pastry and consulting, joined Paris Baguette after having led a renowned pastry shop in Italy and collaborated with leading equipment manufacturers and industry organizations.
Drawing on this experience, he helped design and implement intensive training programs for bakers and cake decorators in Texas.
Training Focus Areas
The programs focused on:
- Precise baking curves
- Consistent decoration standards
- Efficient production flows suitable for high-volume service
Supporting the Award-Winning Texas Café
In the case of the award-winning Texas café, Marco Lusso supervised the pre-opening training and subsequent follow-up sessions, working side by side with the local team in the kitchen.
He introduced detailed checklists, step-by-step procedures and practical solutions for common production issues, allowing the staff to achieve stable results in a relatively short period of time. Team members report that his on-site guidance and clear, methodical teaching style were decisive in helping them reach and maintain the level of quality required for the award.
A company spokesperson commented:
“Texas is a strategically important market for us, and this recognition shows what can be achieved when strong local teams are supported by experienced production leaders. The work done on the ground by our training and production group, including Chef Lusso, has been essential for transforming cafés from new openings into true neighborhood destinations.”
Impact Across the Texas Café Network
Beyond the award-winning store, the work carried out in Texas has generated a positive ripple effect across other cafés in the district.
Techniques, production schedules and best practices refined in the award-winning location have been shared with neighboring stores, contributing to a general rise in standards throughout the region.
This transfer of know-how is part of Paris Baguette’s broader strategy to combine the consistency of a large brand with the craftsmanship and creativity typically associated with boutique pastry shops.
Final Thoughts
For Marco Lusso, the recognition in Texas is one step in a longer journey. Having previously helped develop innovative pastry techniques and publications in Europe, he now plays a key role in adapting those same principles of rigor and creativity to the scale of a multi-state U.S. operation.
The “Excellent Café of the Year 2025” prize stands as a visible sign of that work, celebrating not only a single store’s performance but also the impact of a training and production model that can be replicated across the network.