
Adelle Pritchard
Founder & Co-Owner, Adelle’s Creperie
“I fell in love with cooking from watching The Food Network and started experimenting in the kitchen long before the Creperie opened,” shares Adelle Pritchard. As for the answer to the question “Why crepes?” it turns out that Pritchard has long associated them with family, friends, and comfort. “Growing up, my family celebrated Pancake Day every year – a tradition my dad brought with him from England,” she explains. (The English refer to crepes as pancakes.) On this day, her family would cook up hundreds of crepes at large family gatherings, which has become an incredibly fond memory for Pritchard. So, naturally, when it came to conceptualizing a business, a creperie made complete sense.
Pritchard is now in high school, but she opened Adelle’s Creperie with her parents when she was just 12 years old. A breakfast, brunch, and lunch spot, the Creperie serves crepes along with other fresh, healthy dishes such as rice bowls, salads, and omelettes. The restaurant also has an accompanying food truck, which they take out for local events as well as private parties. At Adelle’s Creperie, they believe that a restaurant’s environment is just as important as the food, so the space is decked out with local art, antiques, and plants to create a cozy, welcoming ambience.
Though Pritchard had the expertise of her parents, Ken and Carla, to lean on while opening a restaurant at the age of 12, the process certainly wasn’t without its own unique set of challenges. Pritchard faced obstacles that other entrepreneurs often don’t, such as navigating a schedule that balanced school and the restaurant, as well as the mental demands of being a teenager working among adults. “I learned early on that some people have a hard time viewing service workers, including restaurant staff, as human. I grew up quickly, but I don’t regret any part of it,” she says.
Though it hasn’t always been easy, opening a business at such a young age has given Pritchard the gift of confidence. “Now, I trust myself enough to know that a setback doesn’t define me,” she explains. “If I quit every time something went wrong, the restaurant would have closed a long time ago. Opening your own business means putting a lot of yourself on the line, so confidence in yourself and your brand is key.”