Hello Team Waffle Wednesday!

Planning a Waffle Wednesday

Planning a Waffle Wednesday can be fun and enjoyable or tedious and annoying. It all depends on if you are doing Waffle Wednesday for the right reasons.

Plan a Waffle Wednesday if you..

  • Want to make Wednesday mornings just a bit more enjoyable for your employees/coworkers/network
  • Want to bring together individuals from different department/companies to meet each other, learn about each other and develop relationships that otherwise would not exist
  • Want to create a positive experience and are focused on the quality of those attending and not the number of attendees

Don't plan a Waffle Wednesday if..

  • It's simply a job requirement
  • You think it's simply a "cool" culture perk employees will like.
  • You need to have a "successful" event that has a lot of people to show up. This will happen with time, but should not be the reason.

Remember to focus on the purpose of bringing people together and building connections and planning a Waffle Wednesday will go from tedious and annoying to fun and enjoyable.

Planning a Waffle Wednesday. There are a few critical questions you have to ask yourself:

  • Who is this Waffle Wednesday for?
  • Do I have the budget to host a Waffle Wednesday?
  • Do I have a location conducive for Waffle Wednesday?
  • Do I have the time to host a Waffle Wednesday by myself or will I need helpers?
  • How regularly am I going to do Waffle Wednesday
  • How many people do I think will attend Waffle Wednesday?
  • How should I promote Waffle Wednesday
  • What supplies do I need for a successful Waffle Wednesday?
  • What ingredients and how much do I need?

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Who is the Waffle Wednesday for?

Coworkers, industry folks at a networking event, restaurant-goers or friends and family?

Coworkers:

Awesome, your coworkers/employees are going to begin looking forward to Wednesday mornings just a bit more. No more dragging to work on hump day, there will be Waffles and connections sparking (human connections sparking, not electrical sparks)

Networking event:

Ahh YES! A great way to attract interested folks to your morning or even lunch networking event on Wednesdays. The folks over at Live Ninja are pros at this.

Restaurants: 

A few restaurants have been celebrating Waffle Wednesday for years, many more are starting to celebrate Waffle Wednesdays. We are certainly not qualified to help you plan out your menu or how to plan for a Waffle Wednesday, but we would love it if you joined team Waffle Wednesday. Free to join and we will add your restaurant to the list of available spots to celebrate Waffle Wednesday.

Friends/Family:

Awesome, head over to the blog, find a recipe and whip up some Waffles. No need to progress any further.

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Do I have the budget to host a Waffle Wednesday?

Costs are always a concern regardless of the type of Waffle Wednesday you are hosting. The great thing about Waffles is that they are inexpensive to make. The average cost of an individual Waffle including, butter, whipped cream, syrup and seasonal fruit is $1.20/per Waffle.

You will want to split your Waffle Wednesday budget into 2 sections:

  • Original set-up costs. You can bootstrap these costs and do it for next to nothing, get the bare necessities, or if you have the budget get an ideal set-up.
  • The biggest variable in set-up costs is the expected number of attendees
  • Recurring ingredient costs
  • The cost of ingredients for 1-10 people is the same.
  • Biggest variance in ingredient costs is if you use maple syrup or table syrup

Total costs for your first Waffle Wednesday for 10 people will vary from $30 to $200 depending on your set-up strategy and ingredients.

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Do I have a location conducive for Waffle Wednesday?

The answer here is most likely yes. There are very few "must-haves for a Waffle Wednesday location. The must-haves for a Waffle Wednesday are:

Minimum you need:

  • At least 3 feet of counter space (fold-up table) that has access to an outlet without having to run an extension cord across the ground that will trip those celebrating Waffle Wednesday
  • An outlet that has nothing else plugged into it
  • Access to a sink (does not need to be in the same room)
  • The OK from the owner of the space, (unless you believe in asking for forgiveness, not permission ;)

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Do I have the time to host a Waffle Wednesday by myself or will I need helpers?

Total time if you have basic cooking skills to mix eggs, oil, flour, and water are as follows:

  • 30 minutes of planning and promoting. We have a planning and promotion kit that includes, signs, email templates, etc. that you can download here for free.
  • 1-hour shopping for ingredients (unless you use a delivery service)
  • 1 hour making the batter and setting up
  • 1 hour cleaning up

After a few Waffle Wednesday's you should be able to improve your efficiency and cut these times in half. Many "Team Waffle Wednesdays" will distribute the activities across a few coworkers so no one is spending more than an hour per Waffle Wednesday.

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How regularly am I going to host Waffle Wednesday?

How often you host a Waffle Wednesday will depend on the following criteria:

  • Budget available
  • Time available for planning & hosting
  • The importance of your organization places on creating events that enable new employee connections/networking opportunities.
  • The importance your organization places on employee happiness

The typical cadence for Waffle Wednesday is weekly, but there are many team Waffle Wednesday organizations that celebrate monthly, quarterly or ad hoc based on the general cadence of the networking event.

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How should I promote Waffle Wednesday?

Depending on your audience your promotion strategy will vary

  • If you are hoping Waffle Wednesday will become a weekly tradition, your best bet is to grow Waffle Wednesday organically
  • If you are hoping to make an event out of Waffle Wednesday for your organization right away, or if you want to keep the momentum of your organic growth, sending out email reminders and maybe even putting up a flyer here or there is a good idea.
  • For a networking event, waffles can be a great addition and another reason for people to show up. The waffles can be a great way to send a friendly reminder about the networking event the evening before or even the morning of the event

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How many people do I think will attend Waffle Wednesday?

Can't be of much help here, you will need to do a bit of thinking. Some questions to ask yourself.

  • What time will I be hosting Waffle Wednesday
  • How many people are usually in the office/at the networking event during this time
  • Do I plan to let the delicious smell of the waffles grow attendance organically, will I send out an email/do some promotion, or is this a networking event where I know how many people will be attending
  • How many people have allergies or follow specific diets. Having a gluten+dairy free option is a great way to make the celebration a bit more inclusive

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What supplies do I need for a successful Waffle Wednesday?

Below is the ideal set-up for making 10-40 waffles. The budgeting worksheet which you can download here for free includes substitutes in case you are looking to cut costs.

  • Belgium Waffle Maker
  • 3 - 20-quart stainless steel mixing bowl
  • Whisk
  • 1 Pyrex 4 cup measurer
  • Tablespoon and Teaspoon measurer
  • Spatula
  • Sponge for clean-up
  • Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives
  • 2 serving spoons for the fruit
  • 1 cutting board for the strawberries

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What ingredients and how much do I need to buy?

Here you will find the typical supplies necessary to make 10 waffles and 6 gluten and dairy-free waffles

  • 1 box of Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix
  • 1 box Bisque gluten-free pancake & waffle mix
  • 1 dozen large eggs
  • 1-quart vegetable oil
  • 1-quart soy or almond milk
  • 1-gallon water
  • 1 container of strawberries
  • 1 container of raspberries
  • 1 container of blueberries
  • 1 can of whipped cream
  • 1 bottle maple/table syrup
  • 1 tub of salted sweet butter
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