'Le Beau' Croissanterie

Dear Const! Or is it Constantin? (I like to communicate directly and I hate the fact that google allows to post reviews without mentioning people’s real name. Specially 1*. But going through …Dear Const! Or is it Constantin? (I like to communicate directly and I hate the fact that google allows to post reviews without mentioning people’s real name. Specially 1*. But going through your reviews, I suspected we are sharing the same background and first language, so I just assumed your first name here, pardon me if I am wrong?) Now, first of all - please do accept my apologies for not meeting your expectations here. It always pains me personally to see people being dissatisfied with our product or service. Because I do care indeed! If there is only one thing you were right in your review - this is it! Second of all, I am afraid to say, but I don’t think you have even slightest idea how an artisanal baking works and how small, tiny bakery operates overall. I am sorry, but I don’t have an ability, neither capacity to do ‘live’ updates on our website about what we do have in stock and what we don’t at any giving point of time. Instead, we choose to focus on our craft and produce the best product, that leads us to be sold out quite often, yes. One batch of croissant dough takes us more than 2 days to make, once it is sold out - it is sold out, we don’t have anything to take out from the freezer and bake quickly to satisfy the demand. There is a limit to everything! This applies to the kitchen capacity (how many croissants you think we can make operating from 400sqf kitchen? Just curious) and also to human resources - we are just people here, you know - we simply can not produce more than we do right now, in the setting we currently have. Not sure what exactly you want me to do with this? Consistent availability? - sorry, but not here. You will have better chances in big chains and retail stores. We choose to focus on quality here and not on quantity. We never did advertise full availability of plain croissants from 9am till 5pm - never. Pretty much every social media post we have mentions ‘limited quantities’, ‘come early to avoid any disappointment’ etc. All we can guarantee - opening with full display at 9am - that is all. When it comes to plain croissants alone, if I can add, this is not our main and the only focus. The star of the show here - variety of filled croissants. We created over 500 different flavour in less than 4 years period. On the weekend alone, when you probably did visit us, we have 40-50 different flavour that all made from scratch in small quantities. And this is what attracts people! This is what makes their experience interesting! This is what sets us apart from others and we love it! We love the creativity that comes with and ability to develop and improve our skills every day! So when somebody occasionally (very rare case) complains that we don’t have plain croissant - I possibly can understand the frustration, but I am not changing the concept of my business because of that. Unfortunately, the reality is, due to very high cost of ingredients (specially butter and labor), very small margins, if we would sell only plain croissants and nothing else - you would see ‘out of business’ sign couple of years ago already. Just trust me on this one… And the last thing, a week ago our store was broken into, vandalized and robbed (you possibly saw the door being severely damaged), getting 1* review now, when we are at very vulnarable state and barely recovering from this - feels like a hit below the belt. I hope at least you feel better now, after spending good 15 minutes of your life focusing on negative things. Always puzzles me thinking what exactly drives people to leave negative reviews even without trying to reach the business directly first, without even giving the possibility or chance to the business to explain or resolve the issue…Like we don’t have enough negativity around us? Why we have to add even more to this world? Oh well! Have a great day, Constantin! I hope you will find the place to your liking to satisfy your demands! Cheers, Chef OlgaMore