Pre-COVID-19, Toast and Eggs in Waitsfield was expanding seating and service options with Kitchen Pizza and Pasta offering eat-in and takeout pizza and Italian fare.
Brian Lewis opened Toast and Eggs in 2018 and at the end of 2019 he partnered with Malcolm Piper and Nathan White who began offering eat-in and takeout dining from the location.
Things were going well until the COVID-19 pandemic first closed all restaurants and then most retail businesses and finally everyone except for food stores, pharmacies and hardware stores.
Like most restaurant owners, Lewis and his partners considered takeout (but takeout breakfast is not so great, he said) after a few weeks of downtime and deep cleaning.
Then came the downtime, when Lewis and his wife, Misa Dikengil, and 6-month-old Kenzo plus 6-year-old Kogi found themselves at home in Warren, wondering what would be next. As small business owners (his wife has a yoga studio) they found themselves coping for the most part.
“We’re taking everything in stride and are looking at the positives. We’re enjoying the time we can spend together as a family that we normally wouldn’t get to spend,” he said.
When that downtime approached a month, Lewis and his partners decided to re-create themselves.
“I was thinking that if I tried to hold on to the Toast and Eggs model that we wouldn’t be able to hold on long enough. I don’t think restaurants are going to come back fast enough,” Lewis said.
He’s confident that there’s an opportunity to provide good service, baked goods, breakfast pastries and opportunities to pick up food that just needs to be reheated and food that will come as a kit to make at home.
“We’re going to deliver and people can also come pick it up. We’ll have a big two-door fridge where people can collect their meals,” he said. Delivery service will also be available.
And it’s all going to happen by this Friday, April 17. A menu will be available at www.toastandeggsvt.com and people will order a day prior to pickup. There will be dinner meals as well as breakfast and lunch meals, and for those who chose to buy a meal kit, Lewis and his partners will have how-to videos on the website to help people as they cook at home.
Additionally, they will be offering groceries such as milk, bacon, eggs, ham, deli meats and cheeses plus all of Lewis’ homemade breads, English muffins and pastries.
They’ll be accepting orders seven days a week and will be on site between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. People can create accounts to order online or call 496-7644 to place their order for the following day.
