The Croissanterie Opens New Home

Long-awaited restaurant enters opening weekend

One of the most anticipated restaurant openings in recent memory is coming to fruition in west Little Rock. Fresh off a round of family-and-special-guest-only previews, the award-winning The Croissanterie will officially open Jan. 15 in its new, larger location.

Launched in 2019, The Croissanterie built an immediate and loyal following for its delicious European-style croissants, produced with an authentic French technique that takes three days to execute. From regularly selling out at farmers markets, demand only grew through COVID-19 with the addition of a custom-designed food truck in late 2020.

A year later, the culinary duo of chefs/owners Wendy Schay and Jill McDonald opened their first permanent location. There, they gained fame city-wide by developing a line of sandwiches incorporating their croissants, including arguably the city’s best burger, to go with the sweet treats in the bakery case.

In moving to the former Capers restaurant at 14502 Cantrell Road in Little Rock, a mere stone’s throw from their original restaurant, the duo gains substantially more space to satisfy all elements of their thriving food empire.

The new 6,000-square-foot, 120-seat restaurant took nine months to renovate and includes two full kitchens to accommodate the demands of both the dining room and a full bakery.

“What was the Capers Market is now the bakery,” McDonald said. “We will do some catering out of one of the kitchens as well, but it’s pretty much Wendy’s full bakery kitchen.”

“The bakery kitchen will allow us to hold classes again,” Schay said. “Previously, we taught community ed classes at the culinary school, and now we’re going to be able to do that here in our own space. We’ll do cinnamon roll classes, how to make croissants. We want to do some savory dishes in the future as well.”

The new spot will offer the same menu as before, initially, with new offerings and specials to come once the restaurant gets its footing.

Patrons will also have a range of seating options. Besides the dining room, diners can choose from a new coffee bar, outdoor dining and a private dining room in which to experience the duo’s delicious fare.

“We’re featuring local coffees in our coffee lounge,” McDonald said. “We have couches, we have a nice little cozy seating area for people to come in and bring their laptops and hang out and get some work done and eat some pastries and have some coffee. On our huge patio, there’s about 45 seats outside, so when weather’s nice, we’ll have that open.”

“Our private dining room will seat 40 to 60 people, depending on the setup,” Schay said. “It’s going to be open seating when it’s not rented, but we can do groups in there; it’s got AV hookups, so people can do their meetings. It will also be available to rent for private dinners, wedding showers and things like that.”

Not only beloved by patrons, The Croissanterie has been amply awarded by various entities. The duo has twice competed in the prestigious Delta Diamond chef competition. In 2023, The Croissanterie received the Arkansas Small Business Technology and Development Center’s Small Business of the Year award and ASBTDC’s Woman-Owned Award in 2024.

The restaurant has also dominated AY Media Group lists in AY About You and Arkansas Money & Politics from its very beginning. AY Media Group President and Publisher Heather Baker, who was on hand for an invite-only event on Jan 14, had nothing but raves for the new location.

“Any time a restaurant as popular as The Croissanterie makes any kind of a change – whether in its menu or its venue – people tend to get nervous,” Baker said. “After seeing the new space and sampling some of the food, I can say with complete confidence that Wendy and Jill have taken what was already spectacular and upped it a notch in beautiful new surroundings.

“Whether someone is trying them for the first time or has been there from the beginning, they will be delighted with what these two terrific chefs and restaurateurs have in store. AY Media Group is honored to have helped promote this outstanding dining experience in the community and congratulate Jill and Wendy on their new home.”

Starting Jan. 15, operating hours will be Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The owners ask for the public’s indulgence while the crew, which added 18 of its 33 employees prior to opening, gets the opening kinks worked out.

“We’re just asking people to be kind,” Schay said. “Most people are great; they’re patient. They understand things are going to go wrong, and we’re not going to learn what to fix until it does go wrong. We really want to keep that quality and our personality the same, and that will take some time while we get our new people trained. Even though we’re a bigger space, we still want it to feel homey.”

Photos by Ryan Parker