A Ukrainian bakery-cafe chain known for its oversized croissant sandwiches has opened its first California location in Fair Oaks, setting up shop in the Quail Pointe shopping center on Sunrise Boulevard. Lviv Croissants, which began in Ukraine and has expanded to more than 200 stores worldwide, opened this summer between Yogurtland and LensCrafters, in the same plaza as Trader Joe's.
The Fair Oaks location sells croissant sandwiches and salads for breakfast and lunch, along with coffees and sweet iced drinks, according to the Sacramento Bee. Popular menu items include a chicken teriyaki croissant, a pastrami croissant, a strawberry banana Nutella croissant, and the Classic Lviv, which stacks salami, boiled egg, tomatoes, cucumbers, and garlic mayonnaise inside the pastry. The shop is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.
Founder and CEO Andrii Halytskyi started the first Lviv Croissants in Ukraine in 2015, according to the company's website, as cited by the Bee. Company lore holds that Halytskyi accidentally made a croissant much larger than he intended, then envisioned turning the oversized pastry into a full meal packed with fresh, savory ingredients — the concept that became the brand's signature. Lviv Croissants combines a welcoming European ambiance with freshly baked croissants and healthier food choices, and the company describes its mission as offering a fresher, healthier alternative to typical fast food.
A Brand Built for Sacramento's Ukrainian Community
While the Bee's report covers the shop's opening and menu, the choice of Fair Oaks fits a broader demographic pattern. The Sacramento metropolitan area is home to roughly 20,000 Ukrainian immigrants, giving it the highest share of Ukrainian immigrants of any metro area in the country and the fourth-largest total Ukrainian population nationwide, behind only New York, Chicago, and Seattle, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. That population grew quickly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when local relief groups such as the Ukrainian American House estimated that up to 10,000 Ukrainian refugees arrived in the Sacramento region within just a few months, as reported by CapRadio. Many settled in Sacramento County because of existing family and religious community networks, per the same report.
In the communities surrounding Citrus Heights and Fair Oaks specifically, Russian and Ukrainian rank among the most common non-English languages spoken at home after Spanish, according to Data USA figures on north-central Sacramento County. That linguistic footprint reflects a corridor where European delis and Slavic community institutions have long had a presence, making Fair Oaks a natural landing spot for a Ukrainian food brand looking to build an American customer base.
Wartime Growth and a Georgia Prototype
Lviv Croissants began expanding globally in 2022, the same year the war escalated, and now operates over 200 stores worldwide with most of its locations concentrated in Europe. The company added 29 net new locations in Ukraine in 2023 alone, growing its footprint to more than 180 stores across Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, and the U.S., according to World Coffee Portal.
Before reaching California, the chain made its U.S. debut in August 2024 in Roswell, Georgia — its first American location, opened after nearly 190 Eastern European stores. That Georgia shop was co-opened by Petro Dudnyk, a Ukrainian refugee pastor who also runs a Lviv Croissants location in front-line Kramatorsk, Ukraine, financed in part through microloans for refugees from nonprofit lender Inspiritus, according to reporting tied to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dudnyk had traveled to the U.S. for a wedding in 2022 and stayed after the war broke out.
Scaling a European Pastry for American Appetites
The chain's U.S. push is led by CEO Brett Larrabee, a fast-casual industry veteran who previously handled franchise development for Subway, Five Guys, Little Caesars, and Famous Dave's BBQ. Larrabee first encountered Lviv Croissants while traveling in Eastern Europe for Little Caesars, before partnering with Halytskyi to bring the brand stateside. To supply its planned rollout of up to 20 U.S. franchise stores, the company built a dedicated croissant production facility in the Atlanta area that bakes frozen dough from its proprietary Ukrainian recipe, then ships it to individual shops for in-store baking throughout the day.
For the American market, Lviv Croissants used U.S. focus groups to rework its menu and enlarged its pastry to 21 centimeters long by 9 centimeters high — notably bigger than the standard European version, per Atlanta Magazine's coverage of the Georgia launch. The adjustments included adding American staples like a turkey avocado BLT and pastrami while dropping items such as cheeseburger croissants. Halytskyi and Larrabee reportedly invested $220,000 to launch the brand's first U.S. bakery and set up domestic dough production, following two years of menu testing and preparation, according to Vilni Media.
