Couple opens Parisian-style creperie in downtown Kelowna

Kelowna’s downtown has gotten a little tastier.

Chef Brandi and Lonnie Haaf opened Empire Crepe on March 1, after moving from Portland, Maine, where they operated several crepe food trucks.

“I'm originally from Medicine Hat, and when we were looking at a place to relocate, we wanted it to be a growing community that had a lot of tourists,” Brandi explains.

“Kelowna really fit the bill because it’s just grown in leaps and bounds between the wine industry, distilleries and breweries.”

While the couple had a great experience with food trucks, they always planned to someday open a seated dining space, and now they have in the middle of Kelowna's expanding brewery district.

“We wanted to be able to create a sense of atmosphere and environment where people come in to enjoy the crepes,” Brandi says. “With our brick and mortar, that was our intention, to create a real experience for the people.”

Empire Crepe's design is inspired by the Art Deco period, and silent black and white movies are screened on the wall.

“The bathroom is a real statement piece,” Brandi adds. “I wanted it to be the most Instagrammed bathroom in all of Kelowna.”

The creperie is grab-and-go style, and all of their cutlery, plates, cups and lids are compostable.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how much waste there is in the food business,” Brandi says. “It’s really important to us that we don’t have a dining room that has any garbage in it.”

The menu features a variety of savoury and sweet crepes, soups and salads, including vegan and gluten free options.

In addition, they have a signature coffee blend that they created with Cherry Hill Coffee Roaster and sell by the bag.

“It’s a really fantastic medium-bodied coffee, high drinkability, low acid,” Brandi explains. “It’s really tasty, and you can only get it here.”

Empire Crepe, located at 1195 Richter Street, is open Tuesday to Sunday from 7 am to 3 pm.

“We’re really passionate about what we do.”