Help Bring Shawarma to Burlington!
Donation protected
Our Story
My name is Elliot Sion. I’m the owner of The Wise Fool, a new neighborhood restaurant in Burlington’s Old North End. TWF’s focus will be on shawarma and falafel, two of the most recognizable foods from the Middle East, where my family is from. Wherever Middle Easterners go around the world, we bring these staples of our cuisine with us - from Berlin, to Sydney, to Amsterdam, to Mexico City, and to my birthplace, New York. Each stop along the way adds small but meaningful variations to the classic. The basic concept will be the same everywhere, but you’ll know where you are based on the shawarma you’re handed. My story brought me here to Vermont, and in keeping with the tradition of all the Middle Easterners who came before me, I’m bringing shawarma to BTV.
Our Vision
So what does a shawarma joint look like here in BTV? Well, at its core, Burlington is a casual city. Sometimes we like to get all dressed up, but mostly we just want to slip into our softest flannel and duck into our local sandwich shop or dive bar on a cold Tuesday with a couple of friends or a good book. At its core, this is exactly what TWF strives to be - chill, familiar, and friendly. Come as you are, be yourself. We’ll provide the food, the booze, the tunes, and possibly a few wet wipes. Have a beer (or 4, we’re not judging!), get a shawarma, and add a couple of new stains to that pair of jeans you’ve owned for 10 years!
We’re taking a phased approach to the TWF project.
- We’ll be opening for carry-out later this winter (we’re hoping to start selling staple menu items from our takeout vestibule at 260 North Street by the end of February).
- We are aiming to reach our ultimate goal towards the end of 2025 or early 2026; a major renovation of the dining room, which will allow us to open the restaurant fully with a bar and counter-service seven nights a week.
We Need Your Support!
This is where you all come in! To achieve our goal of opening The Wise Fool for our ONE neighbors and our friends across the state, we need to raise about $75,000 in capital for multiple renovation projects. These include the following:
- A second bathroom; the restaurant currently only has one bathroom, which capacity-restricts us to 25 guests.
- A walk-in cooler; the restaurant does not have a walk-in. To operate at the volume we’d like, we need to build one.
- A facelift for the dining room. The previous owner stopped serving food to guests in the restaurant during Covid and never started back up. The dining room has therefore been sitting unused for the last few years and is in serious need of a facelift. This includes replacing and leveling the floor, a fresh coat of paint, new signage and tables and chairs.
- A big bustling bar for us all to hang out at. This includes the plumbing and refrigeration, as well as draft lines for beer and possibly kegged cocktails.
- New kitchen equipment - while the bones of the kitchen are in great working order, there are several specific pieces of equipment that we still need to be able to sell shawarma and falafel, including fryers, a stand mixer, a griddle and a commercial dough press.
- We could search for one or two big investors, but we really want to keep this project in the community which we serve.
*Unfortunately GoFundMe does not allow us to offer prizes or rewards for your donations. Any help would still be greatly appreciated!
Organizer
Elliot Sion
Organizer
Winooski, VT