The Buddha-Bar is a bar, restaurant, and hotel franchise created by restaurateur Raymond Visan and DJ and interior designer Claude Challe, with its original location having opened in Paris, France in 1996. The Buddha Bar "soon became a reference among foreign yuppies and wealthy tourists visiting the city", and "has spawned numerous imitators", becoming popular in part because of the DJ's choice of eclectic, avant-garde music. It became known internationally for issuing popular compilations of lounge, chill-out music and world music, also under the Buddha Bar brand, released by George V Records.