Wonder Waffel: Helping Customers Create Waffle Wonders
European Food Concept Comes to Melbourne Assisted by Florida SBDC at Eastern Florida State College
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or HThayer@ucf.edu
Robin Braswell, Sub-Center Director, FSBDC at EFSC, 321.433.5573 or braswellr@easternflorida.edu
Orlando, FL – Starting a business is typically a steep climb for anyone, but the degree of difficulty is heightened significantly if you happen to be in a new country and introducing a foreign food concept to a different and unfamiliar customer base. All of that and more was true for Swiss-born Seraina Hug, founder and owner of popular European restaurant chain Wonder Waffel, when she set about bringing her concept to Melbourne, Florida. Fortunately, Hug contacted the Florida Small Business Development Center at Eastern Florida State College (FSBDC at EFSC), a sub-center of the FSBDC at the University of Central Florida, which was able to assist her on her way to a successful opening of her waffle shop.
Boasting its position as one of the first in the US, Wonder Waffel Melbourne features a different take on comfort food. All of the dishes on the menu are built around a waffle made from a proprietary recipe then loaded with amazing ingredients chosen by the customer. “We serve waffles made from scratch,” explains Hug. “We have savory (think Mexican, Italian, or chicken bbq-like sandwiches made with waffles). We have sweet ones (piled with the customer’s choice of sauces, fruits, and toppings). We have shakes. We have sundaes. We have Italian coffee. We are a place for a sweet tooth!”
“What makes us unique? Hug continued. “You can customize your own waffle with us. Just let me know what you want and I make it possible. I am from Switzerland and we don’t eat waffles for breakfast. We it all day, especially in the afternoon and after dinner for a sweet treat.”
“We immigrated to here and things are a bit different. The rules are different, the laws are different, its hard and you have to learn a lot,” recalls Hug. Under new circumstances, she turned to Robin Braswell, sub-center director and consultant at the FSBDC at EFSC for help. “From our first appointment with the SBDC where we met Robin, she helped me a lot with many questions. She helped me with marketing research, with permits or if we had any question. We are so thankful that Robin is always here and she is part of our amazing journey.”
“Frankly speaking, the SBDC helped us open our restaurant. Robin and her team have been so supportive,” Hug states today. ”It’s hard to be self-employed. My head is everywhere. It’s with the customer, it’s in the kitchen, it’s with my employees. I have to do the marketing, the social media, pay my bills on time. There’s just a lot and the SBDC and Robin have helped me focus to be here and to run my business.”
Today, Wonder Waffel is open and thriving, having already built a loyal clientele. “We did great,” exclaims Hug proudly. “We opened our restaurant and I’m happy Robin is on my side all the time.”
For information about Wonder Waffel, please visit https://wonderwaffelmelbourne.com/ .
— FSBDC —
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2023, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,800 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,100 jobs created, retained or saved; $743.5 million in sales growth; $59.2 million in capital formation; $122.5 million in government contract awards; and 164 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .
About the Florida SBDC Network
For more than 45 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2023, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 111,720 hours of consulting to 14,808 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $346 million in capital, $576 million in government contracting, impacting 19,263 jobs, increasing sales by over $3.9 billion, and creating 1,058 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com
