Our September Meet-A-Mom is Aanchal Gupta. She has many titles; Mom, Pancake Artist, Business Owner, and North Dallas Community Member. I ordered these pancakes on the recommendation of a friend for my oldest daughter’s birthday and we were hooked. I wanted to share her amazing business, love for creating nutritious food, and artistic genius within our community so we can keep spreading the joy and beauty where art and food intersect. Think of Panky Doodle the next time you need a special way to celebrate a loved one, they are sure to remember this gift!
As a mother, it’s a proud moment when I see my kids get excited about FOOD. I had been making some or the other fancy shaped pancakes for my kids for the last 6 years. During the pandemic, I realized that it was a great way to make other kids feel special and bring a bright moment to their day. When everything else was locked down and there was no way to celebrate. Being able to see a happy face and smile, through food, was my greatest calling. When I started receiving pictures and reviews of kids smiling ear to ear- seeing their latest character crush come to life- that gave me and my business a PURPOSE.
Introduce yourself! Where are you from, have you always lived in North Dallas? How did the business get its name?
Hi! Very proudly known as the “PANCAKE LADY of Dallas” my actual name is Aanchal Gupta. I have been calling Dallas my home for about 15 years now- Addison, Allen and now Prosper TX have been our home roots. We are called PANKY doodle because that’s exactly what we are doing- doodling on a hot griddle to make the most fun breakfast that exists- PANCAKE! The breakfast you love in the shape and image of the character you love. That’s the recipe for our business model- we strive to bring smiles through pancake art.
How did the idea to create artistic pancakes come about? Was this a hobby before it was a business?
My little girl IVANKA was a born pancake aficionado so seeing her smile and be excited at my pancake with squiggly lines or some random shape, gave me so much pleasure. The pancake batter proved to be a blank canvas for her imagination, and she would challenge me to create her favorite animation characters in the form of pancake, as her challenges kept going up a level, so did my practice and passion to create the most amazing cosplay characters into a pancake. All modesty, growing up I was good at drawing anything that I laid my eyes on, it’s the same principle here but on a searing hot griddle. What started as a mere hobby took the shape of a god sent blessing when the world stops rotating in 2020. Seeing how kids were missing out on birthday celebrations and big parties, I started offering my pancake art as an alternative to ring in the special day and rest is HISTORY. The community, families welcomed my talent with open arms and gave me the opportunity to turn my life as a stay at home into one living the AMERICAN DREAM. We’ve been in business for over 4 years and continue to serve families across Texas and beyond.
What kinds of materials do you use to make your colorful pancake art?
Panky Doodle is a combination of heat and art. The pancake batters need to cook, and colored batters need to be layered precisely at the right time. It gets better with practice and time, but until we make the final flip, we still don’t know how the actual final product will turn out. It’s a euphoric moment every single time I turn the custom art Pancake over and then my daughter evaluates it for color and the actual character resemblance. She is hard to please, so I must work extra hard.
What is your favorite design to make?
So, you’re asking which kid is my favorite? 😉 haha. Each pancake that we make is a favorite, but we do have client favorites that include Disney Frozen characters, Star Wars, Among us, Unicorn and Paw Patrol, Super Mario.
How do you balance business ownership and motherhood?
Balancing it all is the toughest part of my journey. I am an involved mom and a pancake artist 24/7. Having family support is a blessing. I am human, so I have some battles that I proudly lose too. But the satisfaction and the urge to grow is too strong. There is no stopping me or my brand.
The day pancake art becomes synonymous with PANKYdoodle, that is the day I will congratulate myself.
I would love the world to know that it’s never too late to realize and work towards a dream. I have sleepless nights thinking about new areas and spheres to grow.
We are taking pancake art and bringing it as a LIVE show, where kids, adults can order on- demand pancakes and even try their hands at making one. So, every birthday party needs to have a pancake show- ART you can EAT- does it get any better?
What advice would you give to a mom who is considering starting their own business?
I would not say the cliché “believe in yourself” because that’s a myth. In business you doubt yourself every day, you question the decisions every day; the money and time you’re putting in looks daunting. So, my advice is: enjoy the fear of failing, it will motivate you to work harder. You’ve taken the most essential step of all: Materializing your passion, giving birth to your brainchild. Keep going and doing your best. The Universe and your karma will reward you.
Do you make pancake art for special events/birthdays? How does that work?
We now bring our pancake art LIVE and to the celebration event venue, no party is too big or small.We travel all over the state and beyond to bring our craft to any event venue. Our team works with all kinds of event budgets and comes up with a plan that would work best with your family’s event needs. No matter the theme, we provide a full hands-off approach for the host. You just book and enjoy the experience of us entertaining your guests through pancake art, all you must do is be OK to be the talk of town. Our LIVE pancake station includes a custom menu and the option of having us serve the guests with warm fluffy character pancakes. The service starts at about $10-$12 per guest. Families can reach us for calendar availability and our team will work around to give you the best event experience.
(See below for the code Aanchal generously offered for our fabulous North Dallas Moms!)
Can you describe a typical day in your business?
As a mom, my day is 25 hours long. I am a mom of 2 feisty, super talented kids and take pride in being a MOMpreneur. My days are mostly spent working on orders and social media marketing to reach more and more families, near and far. Followed by virtual team meetings with my Panky Doodle members. I Pick up kids from school, soccer, gymnastics, singing lessons, cook dinner, put kids to bed and then make morning orders the next day morning orders late at night until 1am-2am. I pack the orders for 5:30am-7:30am deliveries. We recently tied up with Walmart and Uber package delivery services to enable us to make our pancakes reach far and wide corners of Dallas.
What sets PANKYdoodle apart is the amount of variety and customization we can offer. I wanted to make sure PANKYdoodle can include all dietary restrictions (vegan, keto, paleo, gluten free, eggless) and no kid feels left out. Just as the name suggests- it is a DOODLE on a PANCAKE!
I am most excited about trying new techniques and areas in the pancake paradigm. – we’ve been asked to create celebrities’, turn a photograph into a pancake or even write secret messages on it.
At Panky doodle we strive to bring your or your family’s latest character crush onto your morning table through custom art pancakes that are delivered right to your home any day, every day. That’s just 1 facet of our service.
We even do a Live pancake art show, where kids can see and order on-demand characters, with a choice of added toppings to elevate the experience. The event’s music gets taken over by oohh and aahs of kids looking at the final reveal of the pancake. It’s the best sound ever! We want every family and kid to experience our fun delicious pancakes.
We have various flour options to choose from and take pride in our “HAPPY TUMMY PROMISE” in which we offer Gluten-free, Vegan, Paleo, Keto, Eggless, and Chocolate Chip pancakes to name a few. We even have the option for parents to choose organic vegetable/ fruit extracted food colors if they don’t want the regular food colors, just giving them the peace of mind of healthy and fun food choices for their family.
Anyone can place an order easily using our order form on the website www.pakydoodle.com
Special offer code NDM20 get 4 pancakes in a box for $20 ($8 Savings)
Or NDMPD to get 15% off your LIVE event booking.
