The Original Pancake House Moves to Plymouth

After 18 years in Wayzata The Original Pancake House closed its doors.

The home of the well-known restaurant in the Wayzata Bay Shopping Center will be torn down to make way for a new senior living facility. After hearing the news, Owner Ken Savik had a decision to make.

“We could have closed, but this is too much fun,” Savik said.  “We have a lot of loyal customers and employees that want to work so it just seemed natural to carry on.”

Now Savik, along with his new business partner Mark Hunter, are in the process of reopening the restaurant in Plymouth at the intersection of County roads 6 and 101.

The two surveyed their customers and found most of them were coming from the north, which is why Plymouth seemed to be a good spot to move to.

“Everything is really falling into place,” Hunter said. “This is a great location that is very visible and we think it will be convenient for our loyal customers and attract new ones.”

The co-owners will occupy about 47,000 sq. ft in the same plaza as the Minnesota School of Business, where a Pizza Hut used to be. Right now the landlord is gutting the building, stripping it down to the studs before Savik and Hunter bring in their team to remodel. 

“This spot will be a little bigger than our previous restaurant,” Savik said.  “We’ll have a new breakfast bar for singles to come in and a comfortable waiting room with a kids area as you walk in.”

While the restaurant will have a few new perks, little else will change.  “Our menu stays the same,” Savik said.

He describes the feel of the restaurant as "Cheers does breakfast."

“We do know everyone’s name, and pride ourselves on relationships,” Hunter said.

Frequent customers know this particular restaurant works on a first-come, first-serve basis and on a Sunday morning the wait time for a table can reach one hour.

“I think that is a testament to the personal touches we offer,” Savik said.  “We get to know our customers, have great food and wonderful service and that keeps people coming back.”

“We’re excited to get in and start creating our new restaurant,” Hunter said. “We really can’t wait to open the doors.”

For those hankering for their pancake fix, the new restaurant should be open in November and joins three other Original Pancake House’s in the Twin Cities. You can keep up with the developments on The Original Pancake House Facebook page.