What owning a café taught me - about people, about myself

Owning a café teaches you to observe.

People walk in carrying the weight of their day with them. Some arrive rushed, others take their time. Some want conversation, others only silence. Some know exactly what they want; others simply want to be somewhere that feels safe for a moment.

Over time, you learn that food is often the excuse - what people are really looking for is care.

I also learned that not everyone will say when something doesn’t match what they imagined.

Some will smile, say nothing and later leave a comment online. Others understand what it takes to start a business and will only post if they have something nice to say.

We live in a time of Facebook, instagram or TikTok, where every plate is photographed, every moment and expectations are shaped before anyone sits down.

What is rarely seen is what happens behind the scene.

Some days a crêpe takes 10 min instead of 5 because it took me 12 crêpes before I could make a good one - our billigs (crêpières) are capricious and yes we sometimes have to juggle with electrical issues…having to choose between warming up the cheese or toasting the bread to make the Croque-Monsieur… because today we have some issues with the electric..

I often when I get frustrated, I tell myself that one day, I will be able to laugh when I will remember of this time. 😉

We adapt, we make decisions in real time - we keep going.

In the kitchen, it can be chaos. Quiet chaos, hopefully invisible to the customers. Adjustments no one notices. Problems solved quickly so the table doesn’t have to wait longer than necessary. That part can never be shown - and it isn’t meant to be.

Most of the time everything goes smoothly though and we always hope for this direction.

The face of the Crêperie is Ed (my Husband). He is the one you talk to, the one at the service, the one listening carefully to requests and questions.

When someone ask for a change in a dish, he doesn’t simply say yes or no, he has to anticipate how much it is going to affect the balance of the kitchen.

Sometimes, the changes requested transform the dish completely. In those moments I know that the customer will not get the culinary experience we designed when we created the menu.

By the way, I need to let you know that it took our daughter, my husband and I to create a lot of elements of the menu.

Abigail designed the Forestier, for example. Ed has a lot of inputs in what we have on the menu.

We all tried many times everything we put on the menu and changed each item until they were all what we wanted to offer.

Ed added the sausage to the Paris, he had the idea of our new Special (La Méditerranéenne).

Choosing the right link between the kitchen and the customers is a tedious task but it is essential.

Not everyone can do it. That role requires sensitivity, judgment, calm and respect for both sides. When that link is not right, the entire atmosphere of a place can shift.

One person can change the energy of the room, for better or for worse.

Owning a café teaches patience. The patience to explain again, to accept that not everyone shares the same rhythm. To stay calm even when things do not go the way wanted.

About myself, I learn my limits and sometimes it is hard to not do something, but I have to slow down and take a break.

I learn that not everything can be perfect (even if I still try my best to perfect every plate), that consistency is what matters.

I learned that you cannot please everyone without loosing yourself, that staying true is quieter but stronger.

I learned what is to be a leader, my husband and I share this role but contrary to him, I never had to run a kitchen before.

At La Crêperie, we value the people who work in our kitchen, it is not about working in an environment where terror reign, it is about respect and creating a safe place for everybody.

Calm creates calm - care creates care.

Owning a café has taught me that success is not measured only in full tables. It lives in returning faces. In people who take their time. In those who understand that they are offered not just a plate but an experience.

This café didn’t teach me how to serve food but how to pay attention to people and that caring is important.