Chef Kevin and his wife Kristen opened L’Etoile Patisserie a few years ago in Huntsville, Alabama. Their main mission is to glorify God, give good customer service, and have excellent pastries.

L’Etoile Patisserie is a family-owned, local business. Everything that they make is local, which means they don’t have anything frozen or shipped in. Chef Kevin uses French inspiration for his “made from scratch” bakery each day. He says it’s French-inspired because he does a lot of European pastries, but most of them are from France.

Kevin gave us some insight into what it means to run a French-inspired bakery: “I’m using all the techniques I learned from my master chef, which means we’re in here at three o’clock every morning making this stuff from scratch. Some of the pastries take two to two and a half days to make, but it’s worth it when it comes out with the type of quality that we’re trying to get on a daily basis.”

Just in case you’re curious, like we were, about which items take 2-2 ½ days to make, he told us, “Anything that has laminated dough like a croissant, and some of our brioche.”

How L’Etoile Patisserie Started

Kevin said he was watching The Great British Bake Off with his wife, and he was inspired by all the normal people baking a wide variety of things. He thought to himself, “I’d like to learn how to do that.”

Kevin was in the Army for 35 years and at the time was working as a full-time civilian for the Army. He started baking for fun at home, learning lessons, and “making some colossal failures with initial attempts” as he told us.

Eventually, he started posting his creations on Instagram for his friends and family to see. Someone from the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts saw his Instagram and contacted him. They thought he’d be a good candidate for their certified pastry program. Kristen, Kevin’s wife said, “Is God trying to do something with this whole baking thing?”

At first, Kevin thought that didn’t make sense as he was halfway through his second career with the Army. But then they started looking at their next steps together, and he said, “It became very apparent this is what we were supposed to do.”

Mission-Driven & Full of Passion

For this next part, we want to share it from Chef Kevin’s perspective because it’s just so good:

“Well, our number one mission here at L ‘Etoile Patisserie is to glorify God by strengthening our community through relationships. When people walk through the door, I want them to have excellent customer service or somebody who’s smiling at them and is genuinely concerned about how their day is going.

Number two is excellent customer service. I want people walking in and feeling like they’ve been transported someplace else. We try to recreate a Parisian Cafe as best we can.

And last is to make artisan quality breads and pastries. We want to make consistent products every time they come in.

We really believe God gave us this mission, so that’s why we’re stepping out.”

Most Popular Thing on the Menu

The most popular item on the menu is the Pain au Chocolat or a chocolate croissant as most people call it. Chef Kevin says that in a 2-year period, they’ve sold over 54,000 of those. “That’s about 26,000 pounds of butter if you wanted to know,” he told us.

But closely behind that is the Kouign-Amann. It’s from the Brittany region of France, and it has 136 layers of delicate pastry separated by layers of butter and sugar.

Why Chef Kevin Chose Alabama Metal Art for His Indoor Sign

Chef Kevin said that he had seen a couple of different examples of our work here in Huntsville, and he asked the proprietors where they got their signs. So, he contacted us.

“The customer service aspect was just phenomenal.They were very responsive, and they asked questions. I was just impressed with how personal their relationship was with their new customers.

As a new business owner trying to set the place up, I didn’t need to be chasing down somebody. It was nice to have them looking after me. Their quote process came back very, very quickly and very, very detailed. I felt very comfortable.”

Chef Kevin had an idea for a metal sign with their logo on it. He worked with our artists and gave them his artwork, and then “let them go town on it.” With mockups and close communication, Chef Kevin says he knew exactly what he was getting and felt pleased with the whole process.

When we asked him if the sign has helped with business, he told us, “If you have a location that has something like a metal sign hanging inside that customers take Instagram photos in front of, that’s the best brand recognition. Social media has been our primary advertisement and that sign has figured into quite a bit of it.”

Thank you, Chef Kevin and Kristen, for trusting us with your metal sign and for shopping locally. We are huge fans of you, your products, and your mission!

Want to Boost Your Business?

Your indoor and outdoor signage should match your exceptional services and commitment to quality. Check out more of our work and consider reaching out to us for a quote on a new business sign: https://alabamametalart.com/request-custom-business-sign/