Baker behind the ‘best croissants in the world’ at Lune reveals how she battled an eating disorder

A woman’s long battle with anorexia was cured by taking life one step at a time and finding inspiration in French patisseries.

Kate Reid, from Melbourne, is now a world-famous baker known for creating the ‘perfect’ croissant’ according to the New York Times.

She co-owns the iconic croissanterie chain ‘Lune’ – widely touted by food critics as the best in the world – with her brother, Cam.

Kate Reid, from Melbourne , is now a world-famous baker known for creating the ‘perfect’ croissant as coined by the New York Times

The baker had previously worked as a Formula 1 engineer but soon found that the industry full of men coupled with 16-18 hour work days simply wasn’t for her.

‘My mental health was severely deteriorating, the job wasn’t what I hoped it would be,’ she told The Project. 

‘The depression turned into an eating disorder and it was my way to control areas of my life when I felt like other parts – like my career – were out of order.’

Kate’s father brought her back to her hometown, Melbourne, when her eating disorder kept getting worse and she began working the front counter of a bakery.

The baker had previously worked as a Formula 1 engineer but soon found that the industry full of men coupled with 16-18 hour workdays simply wasn’t for her

Kate’s father brought her back to her hometown, Melbourne, when her eating disorder kept getting worse and she began working the front counter of a bakery 

She said it felt like a battle with her willpower to surround herself with the one thing she could not let herself have.

But Kate’s hardship would soon turn over a new leaf – because her job allowed her to find the beautiful silver lining of baking.

The aerospace engineer found inspiration in ‘Cuisine et Patisserie au Gaz’ by Paul Roinat – a book on French patisseries.

Kate was soon an apprentice at one of the best French bakeries in Paris, and claimed that she had never felt more stimulated.

‘I spent all of my days off travelling around Melbourne hoping to find the croissant that would take me back to the Parisian experience,’ she said once she moved back to Australia.

But after experiencing disappointment time and again, the engineer-turned-baker decided that she was going to pull her socks up and start her own business.

Kate [pictured] was soon an apprentice at one of the best French bakeries in Paris, and claimed that she had never felt more stimulated

‘I was so focused on creating the perfect croissant – I obsessively recipe tested for three months straight,’ she said to The Project. ‘I truly found that baking was the thing that healed me – there wasn’t room for the eating disorder anymore.’  

Her bakery, Lune, presently has three locations in Victoria and two in Queensland – with two scheduled to open in Sydney in 2023.

Lune was originally due to launch in New South Wales in August 2021, but problems on the construction site slapped the brakes on its interstate expansion.

Co-founder Cam Reid, who opened the flagship store with Kate in Fitzroy in 2015, confirmed that the Sydney branch should open in early 2023, but stayed tight-lipped on the location.

Iconic Melbourne bakery Lune has confirmed it will bring its world-famous croissants to Sydney after lengthy delays cast doubt over its arrival in the Harbour City

‘The site in Sydney requires a lot of restoration,’ Kate told Broadsheet.

‘Delays started happening – one month, two months, six months. Suddenly, we had … all of these processes in place ready to go north and expand, but the site wasn’t available.’

Things moved faster further north in Queensland, which got its first taste of Lune’s magic with the opening of a new store in South Brisbane on August 5 2021. 

Hundreds of hungry Brisbanites queued for hours to get their hands on the croissants in the midst of a seven-day COVID shutdown earlier this month.

A long line of customers outside the Lune Croissanterie in Brisbane on August 5, 2021. The queue stretched for more than 350m down the street and around the block at one point as the world-renowned bakery opened its first branch in the city

Long lines of pastry fans were pictured outside the Lune Croissanterie in South Brisbane as staff opened its doors for the first time.

At one point the queue stretched for more than 350 metres down Manning Street and around the block.

Punters hoping to try the famous croissants queued from as early 5.30am to be first in line for the grand opening at 7.30am.

Lune co-founder Kate Reid said staff were told to give customers outside the Brisbane branch clear instructions about social distancing requirements.

‘We’ve got staff stationed down the line setting the expectation of how customers will need to interact with the line in order to get served,’ she said.

‘We have also liaised with the police to check with them if they had any problems. 

Punters outside the Lune Croissanterie wait in line to try one of the ‘world’s best croissants’

‘We showed them our plan and invited them to come and check and they have been incredibly happy with what we’re doing.’

She said the bakery has more than a year of experience operating in Melbourne during Victoria’s first and second waves.

‘We take it super seriously because one case or one infection shuts it down, it costs us so we take it incredibly seriously,’ she said.

The Sydney store is sure to draw crowds when it finally launches if the response to the Brisbane bakery is anything to go by. 

Lune has been catching the attention of chefs and international pastry makers for many years, with a 2016 New York Times article asking: ‘Is the world’s best croissant made in Australia?’

Lune’s croissants (pictured) have been catching the attention of chefs and international pastry makers for many years

Kate Reid used her background as a Formula 1 aerodynamicist and a stint studying pastry-making in Paris to produce buttery, flaky croissants that have become a Melbourne institution

Originally opened in a hole-in-the-wall in Elwood in 2012, Kate Reid used her background as a Formula 1 aerodynamicist and a stint studying pastry-making in Paris to produce buttery, flaky croissants that have become a Melbourne institution. 

In 2015 she opened Lune’s flagship store in a converted warehouse on Rose Street in Fitzroy, which was quickly followed by a smaller store in Melbourne CBD. 

Earlier this year, the team took over a second space on Rose Street and launched Moon, a sister bakery that makes nothing but ‘crullers’, a braided cousin of the deep-fried doughnut popular in the US and Canada.  

Locked-down foodies are standing in line for up to an hour to get their hands on one of six signature flavours: vanilla glaze, cappuccino, chocolate, raspberry/passionfruit and cinnamon

Kate brought the idea from New York where she was first introduced to the cruller in 2016 by New York Times food critic, Oliver Strand, Broadsheet reported.

The semi-permanent pop-up serves six flavours – vanilla glaze, cappuccino, dark chocolate, raspberry and passionfruit and cinnamon sugar with a touch of ground cardamom – for $5.50 a piece.

Since opening just 250 metres from Lune on May 28 2021, Moon has played host to queues of customers that snake their way down the full length of Rose Street from 7.30am on Thursdays and Fridays, and 8.30am on Saturdays and Sundays.

Instagram is filled with photos of crullers which are often accompanied by cups of coffee, hot chocolate and chai latte from Moon’s in-house brand, Coffee Supreme. 

Instagram is filled with photos of crullers which are often accompanied by cups of coffee, hot chocolate and chai latte from Moon’s in-house brand, Coffee Supreme

Moon crullers (pictured) are being fried just 250 metres from the original Lune Croissanterie

Fans have been gushing about the pastries in excited posts since the bakery served its first customer.

‘Went to the Moon today, lucky it was within my 10km radius. All I have to say is, it was worth the one hour wait,’ one woman wrote.

Another added: ‘Never thought I’d end up queuing up for more than an hour but f**k, worth it.’