Seasoned restaurant pro Toney Edmonds will open his first solo venture, Meadow Roast Café, in the Essex Towne Marketplace off Susie Wilson Road on Monday, March 23. The new café-bakery occupies Unit 25 at 1 Market Place, which was most recently the Cup & Leaf from late 2024 to May 2025. Six days a week, it will offer espresso drinks and scratch-made baked goods, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes and French toast for breakfast; with soups, chili, sandwiches and salads for lunch.
Edmonds, 55, said he started washing dishes at 15. He worked his way up to general manager positions at national restaurant chains such as La Madeleine, a French-style bakery and café, where he learned to bake. He now lives in Waitsfield with his wife, Vikki, and will be on-site every day.
In addition to pastries such as cinnamon rolls and bacon-cheddar scones, the kitchen will make all the soups and chilis and some sandwich fillings, such as chicken salad with apples, currants and toasted almonds. Some baked goods, including a lemon-thyme loaf, will be prepared without gluten. The coffee drinks will feature beans from Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea in Waterbury Center.
Vikki helped design the 12-seat counter-service café with the goal of creating a comfortable, relaxing space filled with books and plants. The couple picked the Essex spot, they said, because it was already equipped as a café and well located to draw customers from nearby offices, service businesses and residential neighborhoods.
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