Anne-Sofie Laidain and Graham Murphy
French holidays and time out in France led Anne-Sofie Laidain and her partner Graham Murphy to open their delicious crêperie in Dublin 8. Prior to setting up the business, Anne-Sophie, who is originally from La Rochelle in France, worked for Lexmark and Graham worked as an engineer.

“In 2003 Graham took a year off and I finished in Lexmark so we decided to move to France. While in France, the seed for opening my own crêperie was planted. I had some experience of working in a crêperie before I moved to Ireland and would joke that one day I would have my own crêperie. When I mentioned this to Graham he was more than supportive.”

Missing Dublin, the pair decided to pursue their plan when they arrived back in 2004. They put a business plan together and submitted it to First Step upon the advice of Dublin City Enterprise Board.

“A couple of weeks into our search I found out I was pregnant and had to postpone plans but First Step agreed that we could approach them again after I had given birth. A year later we knocked on their door again, gave them details of the premises we had lined up – and the money was approved immediately.” The crêperie opened in December 2005 and currently employs two full-time staff.

“We found a place in Lower Kevin Street, Dublin 8, which is a very nice area full of character and close to Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Business is doing great.”

Future plans for the business includes a revamp with more comfortable seats and tables, to make it even more welcoming in the evenings. The crêperie’s best advertisement seems to be word of mouth and it has received good reviews in papers – it is listed in July’s copy of The Dubliner as “the best crêpes in Dublin.”

“Creating our own business has been really exciting, even though the costs in Dublin can be really hard on a new business. So, that’s the real challenge I guess, to see if the little people, the little businesses can compete and even grow. So far, it looks like we are going in the right direction.”

Fafies,
2 Lower Kevin Street,
Dublin 8
Tel: +353 1 476 3888
www.fafies.com