On December 23, 2020

Cluckin’ Cafe is open for business in Pittsford

By Brooke Geery

For local fried chicken fans, there is a bright side to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Rollin’ Rooster food trucks have pumped out so much food for hungry Vermonters since the pandemic began in March, that owners Nicole and Scott Bower have expanded to multiple trucks, and now, a brick and mortar location in Pittsford.

“When all of the restaurants closed in March due to Covid, we were selling fried chicken out of our driveway in Rutland City, all pre-order takeout through Facebook. It was great until one Friday we had 35 cars pull up to pick up takeout and a neighbor complained,” Bower said.

In May, they moved the the trailer to Cold River Road and in June added a second trailer to do events.

“With cold weather approaching this fall and the demand for our food not going away, we started to look at restaurant spaces. Our business had grown to a point where the 16-foot trailer and storage container was just not cutting it. We needed a commercial kitchen to function as a commissary for the food trailers, especially due to the Everyone Eats program, which we have been making 450 meals a week for.”

Bower began the search for a suitable space, initially looking at the old Kelvan’s location in downtown Rutland, but it wasn’t quite right.

“We really needed a place where we could park the trailers and plug them in so they were no longer sitting in our driveway,” Bower said.

When she saw on Facebook that Harvest Moon Cafe was closing, she reached out to owners Harry and Andrea McCaulley.

“I  have always loved going to the Harvest Moon and really loved the space but it was not until Harry and Andrea gave me a tour and I saw that the basement was a full commercial bakery that I really truly fell in love with the building,” Bower said. “The building just fits us and our chicken theme.”

The Cluckin’ Cafe opened for breakfast and lunch service Saturday, Dec. 12 and expanded to dinner service on Dec. 18.

“This weekend was our first two nights serving dinner and it went really well. The feedback has been great. We have already made a few adjustments to a few recipes based on customer feedback and had a very successful first weekend serving breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Bower said. “Pittsford is a very welcoming community. We have had the food trailer open in the parking lot since Nov. 1 and it has been great.”

With more space comes more options, and accordingly Bower has expanded the menu at the cafe.

“The Cafe menu is more of a reflection of my personal taste,” she said. “It is a lot of my favorite dishes and the way I like to cook at home. It is moving us beyond fried chicken. We have a global menu that we will start cooking the week after Christmas. I really want guests to come to us because we have delicious food, great service and an inviting environment. I don’t want anyone to leave disappointed. I know how much that stinks when you go out to eat and have a bad experience!”

In addition to serving hungry guests, Bower also plans to use the café as a segue to her other career as a teacher. She served as the culinary director at LiHigh School, an independent Poultney school for over four years, and for the past three years has taught art at Rutland City public schools.

The cafe will provide additional opportunities for her current and former students to work and gain experience, something they’ve already had success with running the food cart.

Currently, the Cluckin’ Cafe, located at 2044 Route 7 in Pittsford, is offering dinner Thursday-Saturday 4:30-8 p.m., and breakfast and lunch Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.  The Rollin’ Rooster cart has two locations, one of which will be at K-1 base area at Killington seven days a week starting Dec. 26.

“We started going up there on weekends already. They would love both trailers but I really want to keep one in Pittsford for our regular fried chicken customers,” Bower said.

Link

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Two members, including chair, resign from the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont

June 25, 2025
By Corey McDonald/VTDigger Two members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont, including the commission’s chair, announced last week they would be resigning, saying they no longer believed their efforts would make any impact. Meagan Roy, the chair of the commission, and Nicole Mace, the former representative of the Vermont School Boards…

Vt plastic bag use dropped 91% following ban, researchers find

June 25, 2025
In the midst of 2020 Covid measures, another change took place in Vermont: A law went into effect banning businesses from offering plastic bags to customers, with paper bags only available for a fee. A 2023 analysis of a survey of hundreds of Vermonters found the law appeared to have worked. Plastic bag use in…

Plan to manage 72,000 acres of the Telephone Gap project is finalized

June 25, 2025
Staff report The U.S. Forest Service issued its final plan for managing 72,000 acres of public and private land on June 16. The proposed Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project area is located on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) within the towns of Brandon, Chittenden, Goshen, Killington, Mendon, Pittsfield, Pittsford, and Stockbridge. “The Telephone Gap project is…

Killington residents push for skate park as town reimagines recreation future 

June 25, 2025
By Greta Solsaa/VTDigger As Killington celebrates the 50th anniversary of its recreation center, some residents are pushing to make a skate park a new permanent fixture of the town’s summer offerings.  The town crafted its recreation master plan to holistically determine how to best use its resources to serve residents in the future, Recreation Department Director Emily Hudson…