Bourg Saint Maurice - Les Arcs - Just at the top of the Varet cable car, where the view of Mont Blanc is lost and the Aiguille Rouge cable car rises like a promise of ascent, a coffee shop unlike any other has discreetly made its mark on the Arc 2000 landscape. Its name: "B.o.B", for "Beautiful Organic Break".
As soon as you arrive on the terrace, the charm takes hold. The panorama is total, the light cuts across the ridges, and you can already sense the intelligence of the place: here, everything has been thought out to combine speed, quality and hospitality, in a setting open to the sky.
Candice Falcoz, co-founder of the eponymous Maison, talks about 'B.o.B' with the élan of an intimate project, born of logistical constraints... and deep convictions.
A house of enthusiasts at the top of their game
"We were offered this strategic location. Initially, the project was earmarked for a national channel. In the end, after Covid, the ADS preferred to entrust the site to a local player. For this native of Arc 2000, with her brother at her side, it was a return to her roots and a gamble: to set up a mountain coffee shop that doesn't give up on taste or meaning.
The menu is short but to the point. Generous sandwiches and croque-monsieur, homemade soups, fresh salads and home-made breads, with flours from a historic Savoyard flour mill: the "Minoterie Vulliermet", based in La Motte-Servolex, whose origins predate the annexation of Savoy to France.
Bread, baked over a wood fire in the ovens of the "Chalet de l'Arc" - another of the House's addresses - becomes the signature element. Nothing is left to chance. There are no disposable containers, waste is systematically sorted, and customers are left to their own devices for an unpretentious but thoughtful gourmet break.
The Falcoz signature, from coffee shop to mountain restaurant
"B.o.B. is now one of four establishments run by the Falcoz children. The story began at altitude, in 1999, with the opening of the Chalet de l'Arc, a rustic stone and wood building nestling on the edge of a small lake, away from the hustle and bustle. It still smells of burning wood and stews: raclettes, soups, grandma's cooking.
Then there's 'Le Savoy', an elegant brasserie in the heart of the resort, open from morning to night, serving dishes inspired by the dual Savoyard and Transalpine cultures - a nod to pre-1860 history.
Since 2017, the two children have merged their activities, each bringing his or her own skills to the table in a meticulous operation.
But it's really B.o.B. that's catching the eye and the likes these days. Located at 2700 metres, just a stone's throw from the start of the Aiguille Rouge zip line and hiking trails, it attracts a varied clientele: locals, tourists, families, mountain bikers, hikers and skiers.
Many come from "just for the viewothers for the homemade soups or the carrot cake. Everyone leaves with a smile, often with a promise to return. Because here, on this terrace bathed in light, you don't just eat: you breathe, you contemplate, you taste. And we remember.