Croissant-themed food truck, The Croissanterie, owned and operated by chefs Wendy Schay and Jill McDonald, will be opening a brick and mortar location later this month in West Little Rock at 14710 Cantrell Road in the shopping center that houses Pizza Cafe West and Fuller & Sons Hardware.
Schay and McDonald met in culinary school. Schay, a pastry chef, and McDonald, a savory chef, said the concept for the business centered on their two styles converging in the middle.
The concept seems to be working because the two most popular items on the truck are on the sweet (almond croissant) and savory (Le Burger) side. The almond croissant is unique to the area, Schay said, because of her house-made almond cream, which gives the croissant a richer flavor than store-bought almond paste.
“We’ve got some French friends that say that they’re the some of the best on this side of the pond,” McDonald said.
Surely one of your foodie friends has sent you a food selfie of The Croissanterie’s Le Burger, a cheeseburger constructed on a house-baked croissant bun. A friend texted me about it shortly after the truck opened a little over a year ago. I stopped the first time I saw the food truck out and picked one up. It was not a disappointing experience.
“We found a meat provider out of Mayflower [Jidona Farms] that does organic grass-fed black angus beef,” McDonald said. “All grown and processed here in Arkansas.”
The burger’s crisp lettuce comes from the The Nurserie Farm & Garden Market and during Arkansas’s tomato season, the tomatoes used on the burger are local.
“We try to get vegetables and products from Arkansas, from the area,” McDonald said. “It makes a difference in the quality of the food.”
Before Schay and McDonald launched the food truck they were teaching classes at UA Pulaski Technical College’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Institute. On the weekends they’d set up a table at Hillcrest Farmers Market selling their sourdough bread, cinnamon rolls, cruffins (croissant muffins) and croissants. They decided to buy a food truck because of the demand there was for their products.
Delays brought on by the pandemic caused them to miss their target date of June/July 2020. They weren’t able to get the truck until November and it officially opened in December of 2020.
The move to a brick and mortar came about four years earlier than expected.
“That was our five year plan and it’s turned into a one year plan,” McDonald said. “We’ve been very lucky.”
The new shop, located at 14710 Cantrell Road, is next door to Alejandro Gutierrez’s new Tacos Godoy brick and mortar location. Gutierrez is a friend of Schay and McDonald’s and called to inform them that the space that used to be JK’s Bar-B-Que had opened up.
The plan starting out is for the shop to be open for breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sat. from 7 a.m.-2 or 2:30 p.m. The indoor dining area can seat 14-16 people, Schay said and there’s a small patio out front that can seat 6-8 more.
They plan to offer the occasional ticketed wine dinner and hope to partner up with Gutierrez to use the larger Tacos Godoy space for dinners or the occasional Sunday brunch.
“We’ve had lots of requests for more breakfast and brunch out in this area, so we’re hoping to meet that need,” Schay said.
The Croissanterie also offers full catering services as well as COVID-safe catering. They also do in-home catering as well. You can find their wholesale products at
Guillermo’s Gourmet Coffee, Bramble Market, The Nurserie, The Filling Station and Me & McGee Market.
The opening of the new shop will not stop the truck from running. Follow the truck’s schedule — and for the month of February — pre-order your Mardi Gras king cakes (baby trinket included) here.
