Carl Parisien and Morgan Schaffrath, co-owners of Popovers at Church Square, recall the excitement of opening their doors for their first day in business in July 2024.
“We got absolutely crushed,” Parisien said. “I was like, ‘Lock the doors!’”
The flood of customers eager to try the restaurant’s popovers caught the husband-and-wife duo off guard.
“There were 20 minutes when we didn’t have any popovers because we were so overwhelmed with support,” Schaffrath said. “It was great.”
Carl Parisien and Morgan Scaffrath, husband and wife, smile in front of the menu at their restaurant, Popovers at Church Square. (Photos by Jennifer Lambert)
In business for eight months, Popovers at Church Square has sold more than 15,000 popovers, not including the 16 popover breakfast and lunch sandwiches on the menu, Parisien said. Fans have traveled from around the state to try the big, light, and airy pastry made with just four ingredients — flour, milk, eggs, and butter.
Although it has only a few ingredients, creating the perfect popover is a difficult task, the couple said. The pastry is baked until it pops up dramatically, creating a crispy exterior and hollow interior.
“It’s not as simple as you might think,” Parisien said. “I spent probably the better part of a year or more just developing our own proprietary popover batter recipe. A lot of things had to fall into place.”
Schaffrath said she loves seeing customers’ reactions to their enormous popovers.
“It will never get old for me when I bring a popover out, and they gasp and say, ‘That’s so big,’” Schaffrath said. “Then, they take their phone out and take a picture because they’ve never seen a popover that big.”
A simple popover, warmed and buttered with a side condiment or cheese, goes for $4.95 at Popovers at Church Square, including a gluten-free version costing $5.95. Other variations – such as a pepperoni pizza, bruschetta, or strawberry Nutella popover – cost about $10. Popovers have been around since the 1800s when English settlers adapted the Yorkshire pudding recipe, and they became popular throughout New England.
One of the restaurant’s huge popovers with homemade honey butter on the side.
Playing to each other’s strengths
Parisien and Schaffrath, who live in South Natick, spent years turning their vision into reality. Parisien, who is an IT director at Northeastern University, works weekends at Popovers, bakes in the early mornings, and helps clean after the restaurant closes. Schaffrath is a former district manager at Dunkin’. They said they play to each other’s strengths.
Schaffrath is familiar with morning business, ordering, staffing, and dealing with health inspectors. Parisien said his IT background has helped him navigate point-of-sale systems.
“We came together in that,” Schaffrath said. “I had the front-of-the-house kind of experience, and he could do the back-of-the-house kind of stuff. We complemented each other, and that made it easier.”
Parisien also uses many lessons he learned while working at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in high school.
“All the little things I learned about baking, service, and cleaning are still with me 25, 30 years later,” he said. “It takes about an hour for us to cook a batch of 36 popovers, so you always have to think an hour ahead … It was the same thing that I learned at KFC as I was cooking chicken.”
The right location
Parisien and Schaffrath said they spent a lot of time looking for the right location for Popovers before they settled on 16 Church St. in Wellesley. They said some landlords would not allow them to open in an area where a bakery or cafe already existed.
The restaurant’s location was previously occupied by the clothing store Cachet, which closed in 2022. Turning a retail space into a fully functioning eatery was no small feat.
“We had to gut the place and convert it into a food service space, so we had to figure out all the plumbing, electric, everything,” Parisien said. “When we signed the lease, we were supposed to be open in three months … Well, that never happened. It took us about 11 months.”
For many Wellesley residents, Popovers at Church Square reminds them of another popover restaurant, which closed in 1996 and occupied the space across the street. Parisien said many people ask them if they are affiliated, but they are not.
“We got really lucky because we didn’t know about it, but it was a good spot with great memories,” Schaffrath said.
Popovers at Church Square, which opened in July 2024, is located at 16 Church St. in Wellesley.
Despite the challenges before opening the restaurant, Popovers has delighted customers.
“I have an office downstairs, but I can hear through the floor when it’s jam-packed in here,” Parisien said. “All I hear is, ‘Popovers, popovers, popovers.’ It’s amazing.”
All about relationships
Beyond the food, the couple cherishes the relationships they’ve built through the restaurant. They partner with Speedwell Coffee, a roasting company in Plymouth.
“[The owner of Speedwell] literally knocked on the door and said, ‘What’s going on in here?’” Schaffrath said. “We’ve made some great relationships just from people saying, ‘What’s going on in here?’ Because the popover is a unique idea.”
A bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich made on a popover. Parisien said the couple even had to develop the way they wrap their sandwiches because the menu items could easily fall apart.
Schaffrath said the most rewarding part of the couple’s hard work is seeing it all come together.
“On a busy Saturday when there’s not one seat available, and my family’s hanging out, and it’s loud, I just look out, and it’s so rewarding that the idea and work created something that people love,” she said.
At the heart of it all is Parisien and Schaffrath’s dynamic as a couple.
“In the pandemic, when he had to work from home, I liked having him around,” Schaffrath said. “And now we get to work together … all the time.”
But it hasn’t always been easy. Schaffrath said the biggest challenge of running a business has been the stress.
“Every little thing is on us to take care of,” she said. “It can be a lot, but at the six-month mark, it kind of calmed a bit, and we knew what we were doing. We worked out the stresses and unknowns, and now we can be more proactive.”
Popovers has a staff of six, including Parisien and Schaffrath. Some work full-time, and some are students at Wellesley College who work part-time.
“The most important part of running a business as a couple,” they say, “is remembering to laugh.”
This story is part of a partnership between Natick Report and the Boston University Department of Journalism.