Skinny Pancake takes a bite out of Burlington
Small business makes big moves

Mary Cate Connors | fact checker
mconnors@smcvt.edu

In the summer of 2003, Benjy Adler was making $2 an hour working at the Skinny Pancake, a crepe cart on Church Street.

Now, four years later, what was once a risky investment by Benjy and his brother Jonny, has become a thriving creperie settled on the Burlington waterfront.

Here’s the skinny

The Skinny Pancake was started when Jonny wanted to please his girlfriend by giving her a better place to work. So he bought a crepe cart.

The Skinny Pancake offers both sweet and savory crepes and creations on its menu. Larry Frisoli, photo

Jonny and Benjy invested $4,500 in the cart and set up shop in 2003 on Church Street. What Jonny didn’t know was that running a business came with a considerable amount of stress. The stress eventually tore the couple apart and Benjy was stuck working with his brother’s ex-girlfriend for long hours, five days a week, Benjy says.

“But the money was invested and we all had to follow through,” he says.

The following summer, Benjy didn’t work at the crepe stand and passed off his job to friends and fellow Middlebury graduates, Mike Rimoin and Jon Warnow.  After one summer without him, Rimoin convinced Benjy to return to the cart. 

“Mike’s overwhelming passion for pancakes convinced me to come back to the stand,” Benjy says.

The three of them tried to expand several times without success during the summer of 2005. They tried to buy a second cart and failed. They tried to hire and pay employees, but their lack of money ruined that plan too. The Skinny Pancake even operated out of Nectar’s kitchen during the winter without avail, Benjy says.

“It was shit or get off the pot that winter,” he says. “We had to find a place or find something else to do.”

Soon after, the Skinny Pancake received money from the Church Street Marketplace to install nicer glass, add an awning and repaint the cart before the summer of 2006. By March 1, 2007, a lease was signed with Main Street Landing, a building down by the waterfront, and the men were planning to open a full-scale restaurant.

The Main Street Landing space was ideal for Benjy and the Skinny Pancake crew because the building provided not only a prime location, but an opportunity to pursue another passion, environmental consciousness and sustainability. Main Street Landing is one of the only commercially rented spaces in Vermont to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, Benjy says.

“It’s like the building was designed for us,” he says. “It was too good to pass up.”

Financing the project was another ordeal. Operating costs for the restaurant alone are in the tens of thousands of dollars per month, Benjy says. The Skinny Pancake crew is self-financed and raised the rest of the start-up money from friends and family. While Benjy didn't disclose the rent per month at Main Street Landing out of respect for his landlords, he compared it to that of a business on Church Street.

The staff cut costs by purchasing reclaimed furniture and equipment. They were given slate from the Middlebury College Science Department for their countertops and the chalkboards that display both the sweet and savory crepe menus. The restaurant chairs were bought at auction and a lot of the construction and sanding was done by Rimoin, Warnow and himself, Benjy says.

“We put as much of ourselves into it as possible,” he says.

Putting money where their mouth is

The opening of the Skinny Pancake restaurant in May 2007, and the expansion of the business gave Benjy and company a chance to start making a difference in the community, he says.

The Skinny Pancake was the first street cart ever allowed into the Vermont Fresh Network, which guarantees it to be a strong source of local agriculture. Now, all of the ingredients for the crepes, with the exception of salt, sugar and vanilla extract are 100 percent local.

“Once we had a cash flow, we had a choice of deciding where our money went,” Benjy says. “We were able to direct it and use it as a platform to express our own ideals.”

The restaurant’s produce is purchased from a local farm at the Intervale Center, and the syrup is made by some of Benjy’s friends in the Addison area.

“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the money we make, we can’t keep,” he says. “But I can sure put it where I want.”

Benjy Adler (left) and Samantha Lederfine Paskal (second right) meet musicians Chris Wood, Billy Martin and John Medeski at moe.down 2007. Photo courtesy of Benjy Adler

Samantha Lederfine Paskal, a junior at the University of Vermont, joined the Skinny Pancake staff before the opening of the restaurant. She took the job in part because of her interest in sustainable development.

“They are pretty conscious of sustainability and conscious business practices,” Lederfine Paskal says. “A lot of new businesses fail, and even with that risk, they are trying as hard as they can to reduce their footprint.”

Paskal now works at the crepe cart, but during the summer, she traveled to fairs and festivals in the Vermont and New York areas on the business’ other sustainable investment, a bus named Sueňo that runs almost entirely on vegetable oil.  

About five people from the Skinny Pancake staff traveled to nine major festivals this summer with Sueňo and sold crepes on festival grounds for weekends at a time. The crew made it to the Grey Fox Folk festival and moe.down among others, Benjy says.

The crew worked long hours, averaging 40 hours a weekend at the festivals, but the environmentally friendly mission was carried out during these events as much as possible. The portable restaurant served skinny pancakes on compostable plates and forks. The employees were also given a chance to educate customers about the veggie oil bus, Lederfine Paskal says.

“The bus attracts a lot of attention, and we get people interested in something that they wouldn’t 'Google' at home just because they had heard about it,” she says.

The Skinny’s struggle

Adler is happy with the feedback he’s been receiving so far, but it’s still an ongoing struggle to maintain the restaurant, he says.

“I’m definitely extremely relieved that this seems to be working, but it’s a hard business,” Adler says.

The Skinny Pancake restaurant opened in May 2007. Larry Frisoli, photo

St. Michael’s junior Mike Cyr is the first full-time dishwasher that the Skinny Pancake has hired since its opening.

“I’ve learned a lot more about food and what kinds of food I’m putting into my system,” Cyr says. “I’ve learned to appreciate eating locally.”

Employee turnover is one of the main struggles that the restaurant has had in the past couple of months, Adler says.

Cyr says he plans to stick with his job at the Skinny Pancake because of the atmosphere and management team.

“For the first time I’m working with the people I’m working for,” he says. “I’m not just busting my ass for someone I don’t know.”

The Skinny Pancake’s future will include folk and acoustic music performances every Thursday night and full-service fondue starting Nov. 1. The restaurant has also produced its first five gallons of grease to use in its bus.

“I’ve never been a foodie,” Adler says. “I’m doing this for the positive impact that we can give back to the Burlington community.”