Liverpool's first pancake stack shop is celebrating 10 years - by giving them away!

When The Interesting Eating Company opened on Allerton Road, it was the first to bring US-style pancake stacks and crepes to Liverpool.

Now it’s celebrating 10 years of creating amazing breakfasts, desserts and shakes – with an all-day pancake giveaway!

The coffee shop is inviting customers to play Wheel of Fortune on Saturday May 28, and spin to win free pancakes, shakes, vouchers and discounts.

After a decade of breaking new ground for eateries in the city, owner Andrea Edwards and manager Hannah Todd want to share their success and let customers taste for themselves exactly what makes The Interesting Eating Company’s stacks so special.

“Even though we’ve been here all this time, we do still have people walk past our shop and say, ‘when did you open?’ so we thought this would be a nice way to mark our anniversary and let everyone try some of our menu,” says Andrea.

Since Andrea opened the shop with her late business partner Nichola Lee, she’s seen a boom in the demand for stacks, topped with fresh fruit and indulgent sweet treats like Nutella, Biscoff and maple syrup.

But, she says, keeping ahead of trends on both sides of the Atlantic has helped the business to not just survive through the pandemic, but keep growing and winning new fans.

“When we started out it was my dream to open a coffee shop selling pancakes and waffles,” she explains. “I’d lived in America in my 20s, and I felt this was a trend that would be big in the UK.

“Now we’re always looking around for inspiration so whenever I’m away and out of the country, or even just in London, I’m always looking to see what is trending and what we could bring here.”

Introducing crepes and stacks in Liverpool is just one of several firsts The Interesting Eating Company has been able to claim since.

“We were the first restaurant or café which allowed dogs, even though at the beginning we used to get complaints to environmental health from people who thought we were breaking the law.

“So we’ve been dog friendly for years, way before anyone even thought about it, mainly because I love animals and I know people see dogs as a part of their family.

“We’re also massively into the environment so we were the first carbon neutral restaurant on Merseyside, and we were the first to be accredited by the Coeliac Society in Liverpool for our gluten free products.”

Andrea says one of the key factors in The Interesting Eating Company’s success has been building a team which is just as passionate about what they do.

“We all meet up regularly to talk through what might work, what’s not working, what could we do better – and every person is encouraged to treat the business as their own so if they have an idea, we listen to it. That was an early culture that me and Nichola put in because it was important that everyone understood and shared our vision.”

The menu is constantly evolving too, with the introduction of vegan pancakes to the list of regular favourites, afternoon teas, birthday parties and pancakes boxes which are known as boxes of happiness.

“We’ve seen trends and other businesses come and go, and the rise, fall and rise again of Allerton Road, but we’ve always had the attitude of not giving up,” says Andrea.

“During Covid we all came together as a team, we put everyone from all our sites in Liverpool into one space – 52 Rose Lane – so we could keep people in jobs and keep the brands alive. We had a dark kitchen operating from there for months, doing deliveries and pick-ups, and we just kept going.

“Now we’ve made it to 10 years, and the feedback we keep getting is amazing.

“Our manager Hannah met a guy recently who has been in hospitality for 50 years and works at the Dorchester and he said ours were the best poached eggs he’d had – what an accolade!”