There is nothing more appetizing than the smell of fresh baked goods in the morning. Breakfast pastries like donuts or croissants are a major factor of how some start their days. They provide people with the energy and satisfaction they need to take on the day. Dominique Ansel is someone that shares a passion for these delicious foods. Ansel was born in 1978, and was raised in the town of Beauvais, which is located just north of Paris. When he was in high school, he worked at various local restaurants, mastering the art of food preparation. This later resulted in landing him a job at Fauchon, which was a high-class restaurant in Paris. After working there for eight years, and eventually leading the company’s international expansion, Ansel decided to move to New York City to take on a job offer at another upscale restaurant there: Daniel Boulud’s French Restaurant. It was while working here that Ansel earned his first four-star New York Times rating. He continued working at Daniel Boulud’s for six years, until a team made up of him and four other employees started Ansel’s first food shop, the Dominique Ansel Bakery, in Soho New York City. This shop was an instant classic among locals in the area, being ranked one of the best bakeries in New York. Two years after opening his shop, Ansel made a revolutionary creation. It was a cross between a doughnut and a croissant, called a Cronut. Just hours after marketing his Cronut online, it went viral, gaining international attention. Up until today, the Cronut continues to sell out every single morning at the Dominique Ansel Bakery. It even ended up on TIME Magazine, being named as one of the 25 Best Inventions of 2013. For Ansel, this means that his business with prosper, and his Cronut will be enjoyed by many for years to come. Ansel’s success is a perfect example of how a little innovation can cause an insane amount of attention.