When croissants went mainstream

We can all look back on this tidbit from the Oct. 9, 1985, issue of Taste and shudder.

"Croissants didn't make headlines with their Twin Cities debut 10 years ago at the Hotel Sofitel," wrote Lee Svitak Dean. Why? "'No one knew what they were,' said Daniel Hubert, the hotel's executive chef."

Yikes. But between 1975 and 1985, the Twin Cities experienced a croissant awakening of epic proportions. "Today the croissant has become almost as pervasive as the BLT, finding its niche on restaurant menus as varied as Burger King, Perkins and the New French Cafe," wrote Dean, pointing out that they'd also become a staple in supermarket freezer cases via Sara Lee and, a few months earlier, had even made their debut at Clark's Submarine Sandwiches (as the Clar'ssant), a Twin Cities-based chain.

"The public accepts the product now," said Roger Gammel, a Clark's executive. "They never heard of it a few years ago. Now it's readily available."

Locally, credit for the croissant's widespread popularity went to McGlynn Bakeries. In 1982, the company was baking 14,000 croissants a week. By late 1985, and despite the product's relative labor intensity (each 972-pound batch required 127 hand-folded layers of butter and dough), the Eden Prairie company was producing an astounding 2 million croissants a week for national distribution in restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets.

That's quite the meteoric rise for a baked good that, three years earlier, was unknown to company chairman Burt McGlynn.

"When we first got into it, we thought it was a fad," said company president Mike McGlynn. "With the rate of growth, we expect it's a trend."

RICK NELSON