Faces@ Grey Lynn Farmers Market

Ronan Guilloux and his childhood sweetheart, Adeline, can be found at Grey Lynn Farmers Market selling gorgeous crêpes and galettes.

What brought you to New Zealand?

We spent a year working in Japan making Belgium waffles and we wanted to experience another new way of life. Australia is too big but New Zealand is a better size and we’d heard how beautiful it is here.

How did that lead to making crêpes?
I have a degree in French cuisine and spent nearly two years working at the crêperie, O11ze (pronounced Onze, which means Eleven) which is about 20 minutes from Paris. I was looking for an opportunity to set-up a crêpe business here.

How did you decide on a food truck?
I spotted the Fab Truck on Trade Me. It was perfect. Fab had set it up with all the right equipment for making crêpes; he helped me optimise the way I use the space, and he introduced me to the Grey Lynn Farmers Market.

Where did Captain Crêpes come from?
Adeline is a graphic designer so she gave me three options for revitalising the look of the truck and Captain Crêpes was the winner. It is very playful - “Work like a captain, play like a pirate”. The new red look really stands out.

Are you using the same recipe that Fab had?
No - I’m using my own recipe and I’ve made a few innovations like serving sweet crêpes in a cone. I use buckwheat flour to make the savoury galettes, which makes them naturally gluten-free. We have plenty of vegetarian options but I can’t make them vegan because
I use eggs and milk.

Where do you get your ingredients from?
I get as many as I can locally and from other stallholders at Grey Lynn Farmers Market. The ham comes from Grey Lynn Butchers, the cheese comes from Il Casaro, and the eggs come from Nature's Corner.

I hear you had a bit of trouble with eggs recently...
Yes - it was terrible! Carl left me a stack of eggs and I didn’t notice it when I was parking the truck. All but three trays of eggs were smashed. It made a big mess. Luckily I got lots of help to clean it up.

What have you enjoyed about Captain Crêpes?
The support from other stallholders has been wonderful. I love that New Zealanders are much more patient and polite while they are waiting, compared to what I’m used to in France.

What has given you the most joy?
The delight of children who love crêpes in cones. I remember a dad with three children. One of the children ordered a chocolate crêpe. When it arrived, the other two sang out “I want it, I want it”.

facebook.com/captainecrepes www.glfm.co.nz