Downtown’s croissant game is getting an exciting new layer next week with the opening of The Croissanterie’s new location on the ground floor of the Little Rock Technology Park at 417 Main St.
Chefs Jill McDonald and Wendy Schay, owners of the West Little Rock cafe and bakery, are taking over the Tech Park’s coffee bar space formerly occupied by Blue Sail Coffee and later The Paranoid Android. Because there’s no kitchen, they’ll start out offering a full service coffee menu, pastries and their namesake croissants. McDonald said over time they’ll start integrating some grab-and-go options, sandwiches and soup, but all the actual cooking will be done at their flagship location at 14710 Cantrell Road. Downtown fans of their popular Le Burger served on a house croissant bun will still have to go to West Little Rock.
Before launching The Croissanterie, McDonald and Schay both worked as instructors at UA Pulaski Technical College’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute. They started selling their baked goods at the Hillcrest Farmers Market in 2019 and opened a food truck in December 2020. In March 2022, they opened a brick and mortar about four years ahead of their planned schedule.
“We have been busy from the word ‘go’ and we are very grateful and thankful for that,” McDonald said.
In addition to breakfast and lunch at the cafe, they offer catering and have hosted monthly ticketed dinners. Last year they handcrafted nearly 100,000 croissants and won Small Business of the Year from the Little Rock Regional Chamber.
I’m disappointed to learn just now that I missed their eclipse smash burger special back in April.
McDonald said they’ve been looking to open a second location in the downtown area for months and jumped at the opportunity to open in the Tech Park when one of its tenants — Mimi San Pedro of the entrepreneurial support nonprofit The Venture Center — put them in touch with the director of the Tech Park, Brent Birch. They announced their opening at a meeting at The Venture Center earlier this summer.
McDonald said they’ve hired a couple of experienced baristas and will cycle through locally roasted coffee from Nexus, Fidel & Co, Guillermo’s and others. McDonald also said they like to highlight local farms and food businesses. If you scroll through their Facebook page you might forget what restaurant you initially searched for because so many of their posts feature food from other eateries they enjoy around town.
“We’ve gotten kind of fond of saying Little Rock’s small enough that we all need each other and big enough that there’s room for all of us,” McDonald said.
The Croissanterie opens in the Tech Park Monday, Aug. 5 at 7 a.m. Its hours will be 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Mon.-Fri. The Croissanterie’s West Little Rock hours are 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Wed.-Fri. and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.-Sun.