From pit stops to pastries: The making of croissanterie Lune

From aerospace engineer at Formula 1 in the UK, to becoming Australia’s most acclaimed croissant specialist; world-acclaimed Lune Croissanterie founder Kate Reid is still living life in the fast lane -albeit swapping cars for baked pastries instead.

She’s about to release her memoir, Destination Moon, sharing her personal journey from suburban Glen Iris where she grew up, to living in London, chasing pit lane schedules at Grand Prix events worldwide, to finally returning to Australia to bake her way to better health.

The former F1 aerospace engineer has become Australia’s most acclaimed croissant specialist. Picture: Supplied

She tasted her first croissant as a teenager from Bakers Delight, Ashburton; one of the first of the chain to open in Australia in 1985.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever said this in an interview before, but for every special occasion in our family, all the birthdays, Christmas and Easter get togethers, it would always involve a treat from Bakers Delight – and it was always a croissant from this Ashburton store,” Kate Reid told realcommercial.com.au.

Lune founder Kate Reid recalls childhood memories of buying a sweet treat from Bakers Delight in Ashburton. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

A weekly shop on High Street, Ashburton was a ritual she did with her mum when shopping for groceries.

“We’d go to Fresh Central Fruits; a fruit and vegetable store that also had a butcher attached to it where we would get all our fresh ingredients from,” Ms Reid said.

“There was also a dry cleaner business that you would access by walking from the back car park all the way through – and I think most people just used it as a bypass back then.”

Her first paid job was working as a “check-out chick and shelf-stocker” at Food Town – which is where you find the IGA these days.

The site of the former Food Town, where Kate Reid worked as a “check-out chick and shelf-stocker”. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

Reid also fondly recalls Hannah’s Bakery; a family run business that was next door to Bakers Delight – and owned by a local family of one of the boys she went to primary school with.

Opening her first bank account as a child at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia – on the corner of Duke Street and High Street, she recalls queuing for hours in the hot sun when her Irish mother had to post Christmas cards overseas in early December. Ms Reid still gets nostalgic for an era of high street shopping that has changed significantly since she was a child.

Another bakery arrived on the strip – Brumby’s Bakery opening its doors in 1995; ready to take on the market share of Bakers Delight.

“You were either Brumby’s or a Bakers Delight girl, and I was probably a Bakers girl,” Ms Reid smiled.

Brumby’s bakery in Ashburton. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

“I would have always ordered a finger bun or a Boston bun back in the early days. The Boston bun was almost better than a finger bun, because the ratio of bread and icing was so much higher,” she recalled.

Earliest Memories:

Ashburton Library is where I spent a lot of time to borrow books to read and where I’d go to work on assignments for school. This is how we researched before the Internet!

John Button Pharmacy is another fond memory for me. I was really sick when I was a little kid with chronic asthma. I was hospitalised 13 times. Mum and dad spent a lot of time at John Button Pharmacy, filling in the Ventolin script. It’s rare these days that you walk into a pharmacy that’s independent like this one way. I loved that it was family owned and run by the person who it’s named after.

Ken Ross Jewellers

Mum would go to Ken Ross Jewellers when her watch battery died, or when she needed her necklace fixed. Ken was still the jeweller in the store, and I always remember looking in the ring counter and admiring all the diamond rings. The store closed last year. Mum would have gotten me a gift for my birthday and Christmases there; either a bracelet or a necklace.

Stood the test of time

Sergio’s Pizzeria. We came from a pretty humble background and we didn’t eat out at restaurants like families do now. The original fit out of Sergio’s was a classic Australian small shop pizzeria.  It’s all pretty dark inside, with dark wood and tables with bench seats, and they cooked the pizza out the back. It was our special treat to go to Sergio’s. We always ordered the capricciosa with no anchovy. That was because mum didn’t like anchovies. I still love a classic Australian pizza -chopped ham and covered in olives.

New kid on the block

The Corner Deli make the best carrot cake. It’s a bundt shape and there’s no bells and whistles about it. It comes with walnuts, no sultanas and covered in a perfectly thick cream cheese icing and it’s $5.50 a slice. It’s very cheap. I go every week to get a slice on my way back from yoga. The carrot cake is made fresh every day.

Her own Business Growth:

Lune founder Kate Reid. Picture: Supplied

Lune Opens in 2012:

We started Lune in a little store in Elwood in 2012, and moved the business to Fitzroy in 2015. We went from 20sqm to 440sqm’s and thought we’d never need all that space. It’s wild to see us get busier and busier over the years.

The Fitzroy store where all the raw production takes place. Picture: Supplied

My brother Cameron, who is three years younger than me, joined the business a few years after I started – to help me go from small micro-bakery that supplied espresso bars to a customer facing business.

First CBD shop Melbourne:

In 2018, we opened the Russell Street store in the CBD. This was a game changer for us. A lot of people who visit Melbourne and think this store is Lune, but this wouldn’t exist if Fitzroy didn’t exist. Our Fitzroy location is where we do all the raw production, and then deliver the raw croissants to Russell Street – they’re proven and baked fresh on site throughout the day.

Expansion:

In 2022, Lune opened its Armadale High Street and added two business to Brisbane and two in Sydney.

Lune has expanded from its Melbourne roots into Sydney and Brisbane. Picture: Supplied

“We were supposed to open in Sydney first, but then Covid happened, and the site we had signed the lease on fell through. In that time, we found a site in Brisbane – and opened in August 2021. My brother had moved up there to live up there for a year and to support the first full year of an interstate store.  Brisbane engages with hospitality in a very different way to Melburnians. They like danishes that celebrate fresh fruit. Given the seasonality up there and freshness of mangoes, they look for that type of filling in their pastries. Whereas in Melbourne they tuck into an almond croissant.

On Being in Mecca Bourke Street:

The magic of Cafe Mecca is, my friend Jo Horgan has managed to encapsulate a luxe Parisian experience in the heart of Melbourne. We supply four croissants; and yes, they sell out. I tell Jo they need to buy more!