Via Community News Service, in partnership with Vermont State University Castleton
Aaron Hackett was passing through Poultney and had just finished a burger at Toad’s Burger Bar on Main Street.
He’s now a fan.
“The food is great and this place has a nice local feel to it, and it’s a really good place to stop in the middle of a road trip. I like the vibe a lot,” said Aaron Hackett,
Amy Coloutti was at Toads meeting friends and also praised the eatery.
“This is my second time here and I came here to meet my friends from Lake Bomoseen,” she said. “Their burgers are really good and the staff are always very friendly.”
The community loves Toad’s and even in the wintertime they are still packed with customers who love the feel of the place. Many come from neighboring communities including Castleton, Fair Haven and even Granville.
Toad’s opened in August 2022, after the unexpected closing of Taco Experiment, the restaurant that had previously occupied the space.
Similar to Third Place in Castleton, Toad’s is a place for college students to come and hang out, eat burgers, play games, and have fun.
Andrew Breting opened this second location in hopes it would capture the same community feel in Poultney as he had done in Castleton with Third Place.
“It’s become a very successful place, more than we imagined. We’re always consistently busy here no matter the day. I remember we started being open for four days a week, then we went to five days a week, and now six days a week,” Breting said.
Toad’s is consistently receiving orders, serving customers, and even catering for community events and fundraisers, Breting said.
He also explained why the restaurant was ultimately named Toad’s.
“Honestly, it’s a name my group of friends had for each other, and instead of calling each other a-holes, we would say stop being a toad and call each other toads. Then I thought that’s a perfect name for this place and that’s how this Toad’s became Toad’s,” he said.
Caden Capman, a Poultney native, is the co-owner of Toad’s.
“I grew up here, went to school here, so it was easier for a local to help open local restaurants in a small town like this. Andrew offered me a 50/50 split in this place and it’s been running great ever since,” he said.
“We’re always busy. Locals love it here, and we’re getting a lot of good reviews,” Capman said.
Toad”s Burger Bar has a simple but effective menu. The speciality on the menu is of course the smash burgers that are topped with Toad’s signature sauce. The Toad’s single has two, 2.5-ounce smash patties, while the Toad’s double has four.
“You can get a traditional burger anywhere and it’s good, you know what you’re gonna get. But when you come in here and get a smash burger, you know it’s a burger that doesn’t taste like anything you’d normally have,” Capman said.
Toad’s also features a Philly Cheese Steak, BLT, House-Made Chicken Tenders, Chicken Sandwich, Garden Salads, and an assortment of french fries with various toppings.
It also has a bar.
Michele Kellogg has been working for Toad’s as a bartender since the restaurant’s opening and has established many relationships with locals over the years.
“I love the back-and-forth banter with customers, and you get to know them on a personal basis. For example, knowing someone’s dog isn’t well, or someone’s grandchild is graduating. That’s the fun part of my job, getting to know people and their lives. It’s like I get to take a unique peek into the community that way because they’re right in front of me,” she said. “I’d have to say my number one favorite drink here is the Pineapple Coconut Margarita. I had it when I was on one of my vacations with my daughter, and I brought it back here, and it’s been going like crazy.”
Toad’s also features a pool table and jukebox player and there is also a section in the restaurant dedicated to photos taken by customers and pinned onto the wall.
There are hundreds of these photos on the wall showcasing various customers enjoying Poultney’s very own third place.
“It’s a memory, and when you come back next time, you look for it, you find it, and you reminisce about that experience you had last time and it’s great,” Capman said. “You get to see other people that come in, and it’s just cool to see how many people have come in and taken a picture because it started out with two or three, then 20, then 30, and now we’re probably up to over 300, which is awesome. There’s some goofy ones and fun ones, but it’s good to have people save that moment and then remember it and come back to experience that again.”
Breting said he’s thankful for the public’s support.
“I’ve been preaching it here, and at Third Place, without the community, we’re nothing. The community has supported us through the years and not just this the community, Castleton, Fair Haven, Granville, and all the surrounding communities as well. They have really supported us through it all and we appreciate all that,” he said.