New Asbury Park pancake shop is about more than sweet treats

At first blush, mental health and tiny pancakes don't have much in common.

But for Shanyah Griffith-Rumph of Buttermee Pancakes, they do.

The 24-year-old from Woodbridge was studying for a master's degree in clinical mental health when she realized she wasn't paying much attention to her own.

"I loved what I was doing, but in some of my classes, they would talk about how to care about ourselves so we don’t get compassion fatigue," she said. "I realized I didn't have too many outlets to give my mind ease, so I started cooking. ... I was creating new recipes. I was cooking for my family. I'd invite them over and make ribs and chicken wings and fries, and I wanted to make everything from scratch."

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When kitchen inspiration ran low, she decided to start cooking foods she dislikes, "and the No. 1 food I hated was pancakes," she said. "They were soggy, yellow ... they were gross."

Griffith-Rumph researched how pancakes are eaten around the world and discovered poffertjes, a coin-sized Dutch pancake made with buckwheat flour.

"(I thought) I know this can be good in this size because it will have crispy edges all around, and everything tastes better when it's small," she said.

She ordered the griddle used for the tiny pancakes and made them with a buttermilk recipe, then topped them with cookie butter, Nutella and whipped cream.

"It was just fun, and something we did at home," Griffith-Rumph said.

A business is born

Friends and family loved the tiny pancakes and enjoyed watching them being made, and encouraged Griffith-Rumph to create a business. She started in March 2023 with a bridal show, thinking her pancakes would be appealing for brides planning wedding day brunches, and the line wrapped around the room.

"(I thought) if we do a couple brunches, that will be fun and then I’ll go back to school in September," she said.

She planned for the business, called Buttermee Pancakes, to be "a fun little summer thing."

Then people began asking where they could get more pancakes. Farmers markets came to mind, and while most were booked for the summer season, Griffith-Rumph was able to squeeze into the Asbury Fresh farmers market in Asbury Park.

"We had a very big crowd, a very big line. Everybody was so exited," she said. "And it was really fun. I love Asbury Park."

More bridal expos followed, plus monthly appearances at the farmers market, then Griffith-Rumph had the chance to move Buttermee Pancakes into a 400-square-foot seasonal space in the Fourth Avenue Pavilion on the Asbury Park boardwalk. It opened this May — to a line that didn't stop all day.

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Growing pains

Buttermee Pancakes sells stacks of mini pancakes topped with maple syrup, bacon crumble, cinnamon sugar and whipped butter; flambéed rum sauce, bananas and walnuts; and graham cracker crumbs and toasted marshmallow, among other options.

Before the store was open a month, Griffith-Rumph realized she hadn't designed the space for the volume she was seeing. They were selling out of food faster than they could make it, from pancakes to cold brew coffee to frozen orange juice, and orders were taking half an hour to fulfill.

She wasn't happy with the quality of the food, her employees were stressed, and Griffith-Rumph worried her new business' reputation was in trouble. So she did something unusual for a seasonal business: She closed the doors, with customers still on line.

"I went down the line and took their names and said whatever they wanted when they came back was on me," Griffith-Rumph said.

Buttermee Pancakes was closed for one week, and she used the time to order more equipment and triple and train her staff. When they reopened, "sure enough, the line was down the boardwalk — and we were serving people in less than five minutes."

Two months in, the store is still busy. There are two machines that cook 50 pancakes each at a time, "and we serve sometimes 400 people in a day," Griffith-Rumph said. "On the weekends, we have two people who stand and flip pancakes, and we don’t stop. That’s all you do, you just keep piping (the batter) and keep flipping."

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Giving back

Griffith-Rumph's "fun little summer thing" turned into much more, putting her plans to return to school on hold.

"I'm still an avid mental health activist, (so I decided) I will donate a percentage of whatever we make to mental health," she said.

Early donations went to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, but now that Buttermee Pancakes has a home in Asbury Park, Griffith-Rumph supports The Center on Third Avenue, which helps at-risk community members with health care, housing and wellness.

She is looking for additional organizations to support.

"I'm always looking to expand," she said, "because I love when people reach out to me."

Go: 1100 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park; buttermeepancakes.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park: Buttermee Pancakes helps at-risk community members