​Made with love

“I got a franchise at a gas station when I was 21. I started to sell waffles there and after four years I made more on waffles than everything else but the car wash. Then I thought that life was more than hot dogs and gas!” laughs Stine Aasland, also known as Norway’s Waffle Queen and CEO of the Nordic Waffles franchise. “Then I resigned from the franchise and I started a company in Norway. The business idea was to provide gas stations, convenience stores, and coffee shops with a program so they could make Nordic waffles.”

Aasland is a recent Norwegian transplant. She arrived in the United States in January of 2015 and received her visa in February of this year. Originally from Telemark, Norway, her business Nordic Waffles is based in Minneapolis.

“There are more Norwegians here than in Norway, so I saw the potential for a big market. We have a program where we do big events like this [Hostfest] and we have a program that goes to coffee shops, some convenience stores, and some food operators,” says Aasland, “We deliver the whole program to them. We train them, and they continue to buy the batter from us. We just launched our business in July of this year and we are looking for customers in North Dakota.”

According to nordicwaffles.com Aasland was named Norway's "Female Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2010. In 2012 her cookbook "We love Waffles” was published with great success. While taking in the sights, sounds, and tastes of Hostfest in Minot last week, The High Plains Reader had a chance to chat with Norway’s Waffle Queen.

High Plains Reader: What separates Nordic Waffles from other waffles?

Stine Aasland: Nordic Waffles are thinner, softer, and more like a crepe. In Norway waffles are not just a product--they are part of our culture.

When I came here to the states, I didn’t really find so may waffles from Scandinavia. I could find them at some churches but you know there is a culture for lefse and lutefisk--and all of that. I thought something needed to be done.

HPR: What do you think is the biggest adjustment since you’ve been in the States?

SA: When I sold my company in Norway, in 2014, we had 700 locations. Then I came here and I thought I knew how to do it. And I had to change my product--not the actual waffle batter but the toppings, because I think the flavor of America is cinnamon and bacon -- and many more, but those two are much more popular than in Norway--so the taste palette is different. In Norway we don’t eat so many sweets--so here I make things sweeter.

HPR: What is the Norwegian palette like--how did you adjust your recipes?

SA: A very small example: a tradition in Norway is sour cream and jam on the waffles. Here if I just serve the sour cream and jam, the sour cream is too sour or savory. Here I add Vanilla to the sour cream and then it’s good. One thing with the Nordic waffle is that you can put everything on it.

In Norway we eat it not so much for breakfast , we never have syrup on the waffles--that’s not common at all. It’s more like a snack--we eat them all day long. There has been an evolution in the waffles. People are making all sorts of batters, multi grain, vegetable batters, they’re going crazy!

I published my book “We love waffles” in 2012 in Norway and then people thought I was crazy because I put so many things on them, but now it is me who asks them and thinks they’re crazy because it just took off!

HPR: It’s interesting that we have such a strong Scandinavian culture up here and that the waffles have yet to catch on…

SA: The reason is that the waffle maker was so heavy, when the first immigrants left they didn’t bring the waffle maker--what they brought was very precious. I know some brought them because I have seen them and I’ve met people who have had these very old waffle makers that their great great grandparents brought from Norway. Waffle makers were more mass produced after the second world war. In Norway I think 90% of all households have a waffle maker.

HPR: The Scandinavian waffles are traditionally heart shaped--Where do the hearts come from?

SA: We don’t really know, but the waffles are very connected to the church. The oldest waffle makers date back to 1400 in the Catholic church. International Waffle Day in Norway is March 25--which if you count is nine months before Jesus came. They say that the heart could be a symbol of the uterus.

One thing that is important with Nordic waffles is that they are made with love so they should be heart shaped! (laughs) In Scandinavia we have the culture of coziness. It’s called koselig. The translated word cozy can hardly describe it. It’s a whole culture of friendship and love. Waffles are a part of that.

YOU SHOULD KNOW:

http://www.nordicwaffles.com