Act 1
1. How many Kerbey Lane pancakes would it take to go from Austin to Denver?
2. Write down a guess.
Act 2
3. What information would be useful to figure this out?
4. Write down some questions you have in your head right now.
The students need to know the distance between the two cities, so I set up a Google Maps Engine for them to play with.
Here is a quick tutorial on the Maps Engine.
And here’s the actual distance if technology isn’t in the plans.
Two more pieces of information, the pancake size and box details.
Act 3
Sequel
5. How much would it cost to buy all of those pancakes?
6. How much would it cost to pancake the distance from your house to your school? (Andrew Stadel)
I really like this idea. The kids could make a Google Maps Engine with their school and house on it. This also provides an interesting situation because students have to find the best route to their house.
5.MD.A.1
Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.
7.NS.A.2
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division and of fractions to multiply and divide rational numbers.
4.8(B)
convert measurements within the same measurement system, customary or metric, from a smaller unit into a larger unit or a larger unit into a smaller unit when given other equivalent measures represented in a table
7.3(B)
apply and extend previous understandings of operations to solve problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of rational numbers
Credit: Kerbey Lane Cafe, Andrew Stadel, Karim Ani
When Math Happens 
I love this idea and task. How about this for a sequel where students use the math they learned in a different way?
Find how much would it cost to pancake the distance from your house to school?
Typo:
Find how much it would cost to pancake the distance from your house to school.
Thanks for the feedback, Andrew! That’s a great idea! I really like having them apply the math in a different and meaningful way. I’ll add that to the task soon! I appreciate the help!
Any thoughts on how to use similar technology now that Google Maps Engine is discontinued? Appreciate any ideas.
You could use My Maps instead. I think it should work the same.