Today we’d like to introduce you to Minje Suh.
Hi Minje, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
When I was in middle school, my younger sister hooked me on to the beauty of home-baked chocolate chips cookies and brownies. I’ve been obsessed with desserts ever since then. The sound of the hand mixer churning, the smell of the desserts baking in the oven, and just the anticipation of waiting for the desserts to be done baking in the oven were all so fascinating and exciting to me. I guess I never realized how much I loved desserts until my partner, Tommy pointed it out to me. Even now, the first thing I do when we go to a restaurant is look at their dessert section.
Before Waffie, I’ve never had any experience in running a business. Tommy was the one who actually motivated me to take the steps to start a dessert shop together. When we were coming up with the concept for Waffie, we actually started off by experimenting with my first dessert love, cookies. With many trials and errors, we weren’t able to come up with a cookie product that we were both happy with. So, unfortunately, we had to scrap our cookie idea completely.
Instead of giving up, we decided to do some more research on desserts and came across waffles; specifically liege waffles!
We were compelled by how different these waffles were to the ones we’ve always had. Since this discovery, we were determined to create a waffle that could hold all the toppings a traditional dessert could! We combined the beauty of a liege waffle and our little twist to create a waffle that could hold both liquid and solid toppings without making the waffle soggy or too hard in texture! As you can see, we were able to create a waffle that we were both proud to share with the world. I love our waffles so much that I still have one every single day!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Most people associate waffles as a breakfast item. Explaining to customers how our dessert waffle was different from the everyday waffles they see at diners, restaurants, etc was definitely one of the main obstacles we had. Finalizing our concept and realizing who we are as a brand was one of most important hurdles we had to overcome.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Waffie?
Hi, we’re Waffie! We serve specialty dessert waffles (and recently chicken & waffles) that are made with dough-based (not batter!) waffles. Using a dough-based waffle means that we use yeast (to create a more complex flavor profile) instead of baking soda or baking powder. We tend to stray away from the usual breakfast-style waffles, but instead create fun, happiness-inducing waffle creations that make customers say, “WOW”. All of our products are made freshly every day and created made-to-order!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
Whenever I’m feeling unmotivated or stuck in a creative rut, I always listen to some episodes from “How I built this with Guy Raz”. I’ve tried to read self-help books in the past but realized that these books only help those with specific experiences and didn’t help me much. Personally, I’ve found that autobiographies and memoirs were more helpful.
Contact Info:
- Email: Team@WaffieWaffle.com
- Website: www.WaffieWaffle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WaffieWaffle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaffieWaffle
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/waffie-baltimore
Image Credits
NOM Digital
