Strength in flexibility: Jour de Crepe

Editor’s note: Strength in Flexibility is an ongoing series highlighting changes local businesses are making to adapt to life during the coronavirus pandemic. 

As a food truck owner, Alex Figueira’s business thrives on his presence at community events.

But with so many events and social gatherings canceled because of COVID-19, the Southwest Orange resident has been forced to shift his business model as the world navigates a time of uncertainty.

Figueira owns the Jour de Crepe food truck, from which he sells sweet and savory crepes. From the fan-favorite strawberry or banana with Nutella to another bestseller, the langostino lobster crepe, Jour de Crepe offers a variety of crepes suited to various palates.

Figueira and his family moved to the area from Brazil five years ago, and he has been operating the food truck for more than four. His typical clientele consists of people who attend community events and food truck nights.

However, event cancellations — along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order to restaurants to temporarily cease dine-in options — have been hitting restaurants across the state hard.

For Figueira, it’s the event cancellations that have forced him to reinvent his business. For the first time since Jour de Crepe’s launch, he is offering online ordering and delivery through services such as Uber Eats and GrubHub.

“When we came here, we just wanted to open something like a store,” Figueira said. “But before opening a restaurant, you want to see how the business is going and the kind of food and everything. Then a friend of mine — he had this creperie in Brazil — and he decided to open up a food truck, that was his idea.” 

The two were business partners for a while, until Figueira decided to buy out his friend’s share in the business. Over the years, he has worked to build clientele in the area. It was a challenge, he said, because crepes aren’t as popular in America as they are in Europe and Brazil. 

Now, the business has grown so much that there soon will be a Jour de Crepe storefront in Clermont, in addition to the food truck.

“People get to know us and people come back for us,” he said. “They know what we sell and everything. Things have started getting better and better and more popular in the area here.”

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Figueira was working between six and seven events each week. With no events in sight for the foreseeable future, he has changed the Jour de Crepe website to allow for online ordering.

“We’re not selling as much as we used to before this whole thing — I would say our sales went down about 20%, but still not too bad,” he said. “Before, we were working all the city events and have never done deliveries or anything like that. I’ve just adapted for the situation right now.

“People started shifting to delivering because there’s no other way to do business right now,” he said. “All the city events are canceled. ... If you do (deliveries), that’s the only way to go, to be honest with you.”

Jour de Crepe’s direct online orders require a $40 minimum purchase. Anything less than that must be ordered through Uber Eats or GrubHub. Figueira said they are using gloves and masks to put safety first.

Once the pandemic is over, he hopes to open the Clermont storefront. The tough part is weathering the storm.

“Everything’s pretty much ready,” he said of the storefront. “We’re just now waiting. As soon as we have some light at the end of the tunnel, we’re going to open. … We don’t know what’s going to happen in the near future, so that’s the main problem — not knowing what’s going to happen in two or three weeks from now. 

“The customers that we have …  everybody’s hoping that things go back to normal as soon as possible,” he said.