Nicolas Grossemy came to India from France four years ago for an internship, armed with a business major. He focused on exploring the Asian market through his internship, in the hopes of finding inspiration for a business venture of his own. His longing for the flavours of France, coupled with his three-year exposure to the catering industry back home, gave birth to the idea of setting up a French food truck. He reached out to his childhood friend Nicolas Coupe who was in search of a new adventure himself. Leaving his job back home and carrying with him the experience of the family food truck business, Grossemy teamed up with Coupe to became a match made in ‘French toasting’ heaven.
“We decided to work on bringing affordable French food to Bengaluru,” says Grossemy. Their friends, Nicolas Mirguet and Johanne Barbier, a couple from the IT space, joined the venture and the four French cavaliers set up their bright blue food truck in 2015. “We love street food, the concept is appealing, attractive and now a days no one has time to stop and eat,” he adds.
Being in sync with India’s glorious street food culture, they decided to serve French toasted sandwiches called ‘croutes’, on their truck which was originally supposed to go around the city every day. To bring their vision to life they relied on fresh-locally sourced produce and homemade preparations to give Bengalureans an authentic French experience.
They started out with a small base kitchen in Thippassandra (near Indiranagar, a food lover’s paradise). To promote the brand and increase its reach, “we grew our base kitchen into a functional outlet,” says Coupe. They knocked down some walls and placed some picnic benches turning the kitchen into an outlet for delivery and to cater to in-house customers. The outlet is now open every day ,while the truck drives out on alternate days.“The sandwich is the closest Bengaluru can get to authentic French food and their French fries or frites are the best and everything is reasonably priced,” says Nivi, their media intern as she claims it is one of the reasons she applied to work for them. They are busy dishing out food on their parking spots, through frequently updated Instagram and Facebook handles while Swiggy and Zomato carry out their home deliveries.
They have introduced more mainstream options in order to cater to their growing customer base. “If people are looking for good food, they will find us,” says Grossemy. Their best seller is their spiced La Coupe, a chicken and cheese sandwich. “These guys are sincere and the food is great. I always get the ‘Mr Patrick’, because I love the combination of pesto, mustard and caramelized onions,” says Mayukh, a regular at the outlet.
The French duo (their couple-friends are consultants now) dreams of parking at several popular slots, but for now, have been confined to tech parks for want of bureaucratic clearances. “They have great bacon sandwiches, they turned me non-vegetarian! I miss them when they are not around,” says Manaash, a techie at RMZ Ecospace.
They enjoy catering for private events too. “It is great because we have a good time and interact with customers. That way, we can spread the word of our brand and what we do,” Grossemy adds.
“Whenever I go to a party, food is the highlight, but that is an understatement now. I met these guys at a party on Cunningham Road; they had amazing double cooked fries and freshly made French sandwiches. The vibe was so homey and comforting,” explains Abbas, a self-acclaimed foodie.
Le Casse Croute serves up everthing from warm croques, double-cooked frites, to homemade tartines and ratatouille. For details, check them out on Instagram @ cassecrouteblr.
