The big interview: Wafflemeister

Co-chief executive officer Rikos Leong-Son tells us about Wafflemeister’s impressive rise to becoming ‘the UK’s number one waffle brand’...

What’s your background?
After studying economics, accountancy and finance at the London School of Economics, I went into finance and worked for a number of different companies across the sector including stockbrokers, fund managers, insurance companies and hedge funds. I loved being in the city. It was a fast-paced environment and taught me so much about working hard and process. 

In hospitality, there are so many great brands, ideas and concepts. However, one thing that many struggle with is establishing effective processes to allow them to scale and still provide excellent service and product each day. 

There are major questions we often need to ask, such as how do you motivate your team to ensure that the supply chain is on point. How do you remain on trend. How do you ensure high standards of hygiene? How do you come up with great product? 

These things are vitally important, and to scale from one shop to six, or from 20 to 50 and develop multiple products for multiple customers, can be really difficult. 
 
And that of the business?
The reason we entered the world of waffles in 2009 was because we knew how popular they are, and they can be found on every high street around the world. You can find them in restaurants, cafés, schools, hospitals, transportation, supermarkets – literally everywhere. 

However, when you look at similar products like doughnuts and coffee, there were no brand leaders in the waffle sector – unlike for Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme and Starbucks in those categories. It was great opportunity for us to become the number one in the category and become the number one global brand. 

When we started, the first thing we needed to do was create a strong brand presence, and by doing that we needed to be on the high street. We created Wafflemeister as a contemporary brand that offers premium quality, consistency and value for money. 
We also aimed to create an enjoyable experience. We’re in the treat business and we want to have fun.

Back in the early days, we wrote a 700-page manual on how to run a store. That is the sort of detail you need to get into in order to deliver consistency. 



How many different types of outlets do you have now and in how many different countries?
After retail, we opened in universities and leisure parks up and down the country. We now have more than 30 retail sites. 

That facilitated brand recognition and gave us the confidence to go into foodservice, stating that we are the UK’s number one waffle brand. You’ll find us in every sector now!

Growth has been great. We’ve gone from one to all major national and regional wholesalers in literally months. 

We also launched in Waitrose and more recently in Costco. The Costco deal meant we also made our first steps into Europe through their Icelandic business. 

We’re now distributing worldwide, including to New Zealand. To put it in perspective, we now sell more than one waffle a second.  

We have done this without increasing headcount. We built our processes early on to allow us to scale and provide great service. 
 
What’s the business’s unique selling point?
We really have the best product on the market, not just in terms of recipe but also process. 
Our brand is also very much about service. When I talk about service, I really mean service on all levels – that's from the outlets themselves, serving customers, working with wholesalers, deliveries and end-consumers as well. 

Consistency is key for us, as we want to ensure that every single time a customer has a Wafflemeister waffle, we see a smile on their face. 

I think the value piece is also really important. We’ve worked really hard, in terms of processes, efficiencies, scalability and our economies of scale, to build a product that means that we can pass on any savings to the end customer. 

It's a light-hearted, wonderful product that can be eaten on the go or as a breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. So it's a versatile base that can be used in lots of different scenarios.  Our product is also made in Belgium, so it's truly authentic.
 
What are your best-sellers?
We’ve got lots of great products, but in terms of best-sellers or our, Rolls Royce is the Liege waffle which we bake fresh in store. It works brilliantly with a scoop of gelato and a drizzle of melted Belgian chocolate. 
 
What are your plans for the future?
We have lots of brilliant plans in place. For too long, our sector has been the same standard, boring, low-grade waffle. We have elevated that waffle and added a lot more.  

We also continue to work with amazing partners. For example, we recently launched with Butlins in their famous Scoop Ice Cream parlour, offering fove original waffle recipes, and we have created the best chicken waffle in the market with the new Sides quick-service restaurant concept from the Sidemen. The product is truly awesome and we love being a part of that.  

Apart from other great collabs with major brands in the casual dining sector, you might find us on a plane, train or an airport soon.

We are also launching with new retailers this year, as well as looking at new sites in high-footfall, high-leisure types of locations. There is plenty to keep us busy.  
 
What one tip would you offer on running a business like this well?             
There is no magic formula. First you need to work hard – then work harder. You need to keep pushing and motivating those around you to ensure there is a singular purpose that everyone can get behind.  We have no hierarchy, it’s a flat structure where every voice is heard, where we win and lose together. 

Obviously things like working capital are always greater than you think, so be prepared.   
Most importantly, you need to be ready to adapt and evolve. If every business turned out like the initial spreadsheet, we would all be billionaires.

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