Poppy Cafe & MarketCall (802) 393-4711
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Poppy Cafe & Market · Old North End

Our story

Poppy is a cafe with a small market in Burlington’s Old North End, owned and operated by Emily and Abby Portman.

See the current menu Visit Poppy
Open full size: Two people in aprons and face masks standing under a hanging Poppy Cafe & Market sign, beside a painted mural

01 · Sisters

The sisters

Poppy Cafe & Market is owned and operated by Emily and Abby Portman. We bring a number of years working in the food and restaurant industries, with experience on the culinary and production side, as well as cultivating community partnerships and bringing people together around food.

Open full size: Two people sitting on porch steps behind a wooden table with a Poppy Cafe & Market sign and a jar of sunflowers
Behind a Poppy sign, on the steps.

02 · Concept

The concept

Poppy is a cafe with a small market in Burlington’s Old North End. Originally conceptualized as a sit down restaurant, we transitioned our business plan as Covid hit. We were able to create a model that could adhere to restrictions. We decided to go with sandwiches because it was easy take-out, required a limited staff and allowed us an opportunity for creativity. Turns out, it was exactly what everyone was craving.

Now, Poppy is a gathering space for the neighborhood, a go-to spot for a quality lunch, a resource and partner for community groups, and a space where people feel at home. Subject to seasonal change, Poppy offers a small menu of unique and creative options. Ultimately, we want to push the boundary of what a sandwich can be.

Open full size: A sunlit dining room with painted chairs, wooden tables, a woven lamp and a colorful mural
The dining room.

03 · Origins

Origins

The seeds for Poppy were sown somewhere between the Feast of the Seven Fishes and the High Holy Days. This unlikely yet complementary blend of Italian and Jewish heritage gave way to an obsession with food and its ability to bring people together. What started in a family kitchen grew into dorms, apartments, backyards, and eventually, commercial kitchens.

Open full size: Four people around a long wooden table in a backyard, with a bowl of seeded bread, cured meats, olives and jars of drinks
A backyard table, shared.

Kitchens, backyards and good company

9 photos · tap to enlarge
Open full size: Bowls of tomatoes, citrus and green beans beside a cutting board, a lake and hills behind
A table by the lake.
Open full size: A person laughing in a garden beside a white house, holding up a glass
Laughing in the garden.
Open full size: Three smiling people hold a fourth up sideways on the sidewalk under a hanging Poppy sign
Held up on the sidewalk.
Open full size: Three people sipping orange drinks through paper flamingo straws
Flamingo straws.
Open full size: Five people standing arm in arm in a kitchen, plants on the shelves behind them
Five, arm in arm, in the kitchen.
Open full size: Two people in matching teal caps raising glasses at a weathered picnic table
A backyard toast.
Open full size: Six people in printed novelty T-shirts raising glasses on a rock by the water at sunset
Six by the water.
Open full size: Two people hugging in a bright kitchen
A hug in the kitchen.
Open full size: Three people in aprons sitting together on a sunny deck, one drinking from a mug
Three on the deck.

Poppy, from the start

12 photos · tap to enlarge
Open full size: Two people sitting on porch steps behind a wooden table with a Poppy Cafe & Market sign and a jar of sunflowers
On the steps.
Open full size: Two people eating sandwiches in the sun on a porch
Lunch in the sun.
Open full size: Two people in aprons and face masks standing under a hanging Poppy Cafe & Market sign, beside a painted mural
Under the Poppy sign.
Open full size: A person typing on a laptop while perched on an uninstalled toilet in a half-finished room with orange underlayment on the floor
Planning mid-build.
Open full size: Two people smiling and holding up bottles in front of a painted wall
Bottles up, by the mural.
Open full size: A person basting birds on a spit over a lakeside fire, peppers on a griddle below
Over a fire by the lake.
Open full size: Two people biting into sandwiches against a white wall
Two first bites.
Open full size: A person stretching dough over a board outdoors
Stretching dough.
Open full size: Two people at an outdoor table with a wine bottle, glasses, a woven bowl, a camera and a red pot
A backyard table.
Open full size: Two people standing arm in arm on a snowy roadside
Snow on the roadside.
Open full size: A person in a ringer T-shirt squeezing lime over a paper plate of tacos
A plate of tacos.
Open full size: Two people hugging and smiling on a pebbly lakeshore
By the lake.
See the current menuMore photos