Parachute Bakery claimed top honors at the 2026 Best Croissant San Francisco competition on Sunday, winning both the grand prize and best original creation.
Hundreds of pastry lovers attended the annual event, organized by French Morning, a French publishing company; Frenchly, a Francophile arts and culture news magazine; and the French-American Hospitality & Gastronomy Association. The judging panel included Claude Le Tohic, of the Michelin-starred O’ by Claude Le Tohic, and Lucile Espeillac, of last year’s winner Maison Benoit in Danville.
Fans nominated their favorite bakeries, after which 10 finalists were determined by public vote. Finalists across the Bay Area included Carousel Patisserie and Compagnon Bakery in San Francisco and East Bay Bakery in Danville.
Parachute won best original creation, a category for non-traditional takes on French pastries, with its spin on s’mores — a chocolate croissant filled with chocolate ganache and marshmallow made with foraged pine needles, then topped with cinnamon graham crackers. “Our pine needles were infused with the eggs overnight, and then whipped up, so you have the experience of camping underneath a pine tree,” co-owner and head baker Nasir Armar said after receiving the award.
For the grand prize, judges spent hours conducting blind tastings of plain croissants, ultimately awarding it to Parachute, whose croissant was the result of Armar working 14-hour days testing out different flours, butters, baking temperatures and fermentation times in the leadup to the bakery’s opening last September.