Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan & Allen Tate.
Hi Susan & Allen , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We spend time traveling in Europe and found that we loved France & its food culture.
In 2007, we rented an apartment in Paris in the 7th arrondissement in St Germaine de Pres, a great historic area where the impressionist and writers roamed, and close to the trains at Montparnasse that leave for Brittany, where crepes originated. Not flush with money, we became fascinated with crepes, on the streets and in crepe restaurants. In Paris there is always someone with a baguette under their arm, delicious crepes and sandwich vendors on the street and a great little cafe on every corner to sit with a creme cafe and croissant and watch the world go by.
In 2008, returning to Knoxville, there were no casual coffee & croissant cafes and defiantly no crepe stands. Downtown was just starting to come alive, and rent was cheap! We rented the original Delta ticket office on Gay Street in The Farragut building with the landlord telling us–just write your own lease–because at the time most of the buildings on Gay Street were empty.
The French Market started with crepes, sandwiches, great European coffee, flowers and gifts. We opened a second location in Farragut in 2015 and moved and expanded our original location to 412 Clinch Ave in 2018. We have also expanded or menu over the years after with many trips back to France and also to Belgium and French Canada.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a wild ride! Downtown Knoxville was so much fun in the beginning on Gay Street when there were few restaurants and few customers or residents. All the businesses owners knew and supported each other, and we struggled together. There was a lot of Construction downtown that we lived through in order to stay in business.
We started with two friends helping us on the weekend and now have a staff of 35 between our two locations. Hiring and training staff is the most challenging part of running restaurants and we have been very fortunate to have had wonderful people to work with along the way—and a lot of no shows too. We can still struggle with staffing after 17 years and both of us pick up dish washing or barista shifts on a regular basis. We are always the first call when someone doesnt come in. Allen is a great fixer of everything–door locks, plumbing and crepe griddles. If we own it, he has fixed it!
We are proud to be able to pay a living wage and offer health insurance to our staff.
We’ve been impressed with The French Market Creperies, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The French Market is an authentic French Creperie and Cafe with two locations in downtown and west Knoxville in business since 2008 serving French Casual food–crepes, sandwiches and soups and Lavazza coffee. We also have a full bar and wine menu, are open everyday and feature seasonal special crepes and drinks. We are known for our Famous French Brunch served all day on Sundays and for our Beignets served downtown on the weekends and for our extensive specialty drink menu.
We are proud of our crepes! Made with flour we import from France, we have over 40 crepes on the menu and also offer gluten free crepes and sandwiches. The French market is also known for great customer service and friendly staff. We say happy people make happy crepes.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Our customers have been so supportive over the years. Knoxville is really a small town with a big heart. When we opened in West Knoxville, many of our downtown customers traveled there to support us. We have great managers and chefs who have helped every step of the way. We could never have stayed open without our staff.
Pricing:
- We try to keep our prices as low as possible We use great quality ingrediants
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thefrenchmarketknoxville.com
- Instagram: @frenchmarketcreperie
- Facebook: thefrenchmarketcreperie
