Our mission
and history

Our History

The Skinny Pancake Story

The first Skinny Pancake was served on Wednesday evening of June 4, 2003. The owners, Jonny and Benjy Adler, had no experience, a cart made of wood scraps from their parents’ kitchen flooring, and a junked sailboat trailer that had been crudely outfitted into a flatbed.

Since then it has been a story of steady growth. 2005 saw the expansion of festival tours throughout New York and New England with our veggie-oil powered school bus ‘Sueno.’ With a deep commitment to serving local foods whenever possible, the Skinny Pancake was welcomed into the Vermont Fresh Network in 2006. Four years after the first creped served, we opened the doors to the first Skinny Pancake on Burlington’s waterfront.

In the years since then, The Skinny Pancake has experienced steady growth. In 2009, we swung open the doors to a “Mini Skinny” in the heart of our little capital, Montpelier. In 2013, The Skinny Pancake won the right to operate at The Burlington International Airport. As best we can tell, our BTV restaurants are the most locally-sourced foodservice operation in any airport in the USA. SFO declined a friendly request for an audit! ;-0

In 2015, we opened at The University of Vermont. In 2016, we opened up at the Stowe Mountain Resort. In 2018, we opened a location in Quechee, VT. In 2020, we opened in downtown Stowe. And in 2021, we proudly opened in downtown Albany, NY!

The Skinny Pancake continues to explore new opportunities in New York, VT, and the greater Northeast! In every location we operate, we strive to be a thread in the fabric of the community….more on that below!

Our Mission

The Skinny Pancake is on a mission to change the world by building a safer, healthier and more delicious food shed while creating everyday enjoyment that is fun and affordable.

Consumer purchase power is REAL. Commercial scale purchase power? Now there’s a big bang for that big buck: The Skinny Pancake spends millions of dollars on food every year. A ‘typical’ restaurant buys the majority of their food from a generic distributor. The money spent with that distributor is gathered from local patrons and sent to the distributor’s headquarters in a far away land. That distributor then spends this money internationally to get their food. This is what we call “the leaky bucket.” Local money just spills out into the world. At The Skinny Pancake, we aim to plug that leaky bucket and keep more of those dollars circulating in the local food economy.

Our mission extends beyond our purchase power. We recognize that our positive impact extends beyond our purchase power through the education and influence we can have on consumers and friends in food service, too. That’s why we undertake “BHAGs” (Big Hairy Audacious Goals)!

In 2017, we produced a 6 part video series called “The Local Motive” in collaboration with Vermont PBS.

In 2020, when the pandemic collapsed our industry, we organized “ShiftMeals” which led directly to the State’s remarkable “Everyone Eats” program. Everyone Eats has provided nearly 3,000,000 free meals since September 2020. These meals are made by VT restaurants, paid for by the State and given for free to Vermonters struggling with food insecurity.

These two “BHAGs” are examples of how The Skinny Pancake demonstrates our commitment to community and food security.

The common thread to our mission: we believe in the potential for positive impact from the business community and we’re committed to proving it to the world. We have spent the life of the company trying to “walk the walk” not just “talk the talk” of mission. Here’s the truth: it ain’t easy!! Social impact is a journey…and we’re on it! Whether a guest, a member of our team, or someone just browsing our site, we invite you to join us in our adventures in social impact.