Our History
In 1984, Alice Waters wanted to open a French cafe where she could
serve delicious little dishes to her friends and guests without all
the complications of a serious restaurant. The menu would be simple,
the cafe wouldn't need a real kitchen--just an oven, an espresso
machine, and a couple of steamers for poaching eggs. Our granola was
served from the very first day.
In 2012, after 28 years of service, the Café closed its doors. Soon afterwards
Café Fanny Granola was sold to Cassandra Chen. Her artisanal caramel company, CC Made,
needed room for growth and when the opportunity to produce Café Fanny Granola
presented itself she knew it was a dream come true.
Café Fanny is named after the exquisite heroine of Marcel
Pagnol's 1930's Marseilles movies (as is Alice Water's daughter)
because she wanted to evoke their spirit: an ideal reality where
life and work were inseparable and the daily pace left time for the
afternoon anisette or the restorative game of petanque, where eating
together nourished the spirit as well as the body-since the food
was raised, harvested, hunted, fished and gathered by people sustaining
and sustained by each other and by the earth itself.
So it is with a heavy heart that we are closing Café Fanny today after 28 memorable years.
It is the right moment in time to explore new possibilities for this small space that can still house the romance and idealism of the original.
We want to thank our staff, suppliers, friends and most of all you, our wonderfully loyal customers who have been with us in bowls of café au lait and beignets for so long.
With gratitude and love,
Alice, Jim, Laura, Steve and Kermit
March 8, 2012








