Tucked away across from the engineering center on the eastern end of campus is a hidden gem of ASU Tempe: the Crepe Club.
Hidden in Plain Sight
The barely month-old brick and mortar store is unknown to a majority of students, due to its location being far away from more popular food stops on campus and a word of mouth advertising campaign.
However, the lack of lines is one of the best features of the shop, repeat customers say.
“Four or five people in the line is the (worst) I’ve seen it,” Aerospace Engineering freshman Josh Dejarnett said. “It’s good for a quick breakfast and it’s a decent meal.”
Dejarnett is one of the customers who found the crepe shop by accident, stumbling across the location while running to a class.
I come by this (way) every few days,” he said. “Basically just walking by I found it.”
The crepe shop being away from the most trafficked parts of campus gives a quiet atmosphere to the outdoor seating area that some students appreciate.
“This is our first time,” communications junior Ieona Niwa said while eating a crepe with a friend. “ But it’s pretty quiet here. The (Memorial Union) is kind of noisy.”
She said the only reason she knew about the shop was social media.
“I saw my friend’s Snapchat,”Niwa said. “She took a photo of this place and it seemed good.”
A start at ASU
The Crepe Club comes from humble beginnings, started by the three Tarabichi brothers in 2015 as a food cart outside the Memorial Union.
“They started with a cart, the Tarabichi brothers,” operations manager Maria McClelland said. “They’re graduates of ASU. They started here, and now they’re expanding to more locations.”
The Crepe Club now has two other locations besides the ASU shop, located in Phoenix and Gilbert. Before the spring 2017 semester began, the brothers expanded their Tempe operation, taking over a storefront on Tyler Mall, near the Wexler building.
We’re hosting a #GrandOpening for our newest restaurant at the #SanTanVillage in #Gilbert. Join us on tomorrow, January 6 from 5–7pm
— The Crepe Club (@thecrepeclub) January 5, 2017
“We’re growing,” McClelland said. “A lot of people are liking it and coming back. Even if they’re rushing to their classes, they come back here.” With the new location comes a new menu, giving new options to students about what food to grab between classes. McClelland said the changes have been well received.
“Everybody has their favorites, and we try to introduce new ones too,” she said. “The whole day, everything is being ordered by people.”
Free Crepes in Tempe
On Feb. 2, to highlight their new location and to bring in more customers, the Crepe Club will be hosting a free crepe day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. During that time, anybody can stop by the shop and receive either a butter and sugar crepe, called a Parisian, or a Nutella crepe for free.
The promotion is expected to bring a large influx of customers, employees said.
“I would assume that it’s probably going to bring in at least another 300 customers if not more,” Robert Karn, an employee of the shop, said. “That’s the hope.”
Karn said the quality of the food is what brings people back, and that the free crepe day showcases just how good the crepes are.
“Hopefully that will, for the future, it will raise awareness of our location and our business,” he said.
Karn added that the variety of quality food is what sets the Crepe Club apart from other restaurants on the Tempe campus, especially the ones in the Memorial Union.
“We have quality food on campus compared to, like, Subway and such,” he said. “I’m not hating on Subway, but we make it by hand here.”
Reach the reporter at ckmccror@asu.edu or follow and @ckm_news on Twitter.
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