(Community response to Off Your Waffle “has been incredible,” say the food truck’s owners | Photo courtesy of Andrea Hine)
Not hesitating for a moment, Amy and Shiloh — owners of Off Your Waffle in La Pine — said that the most popular item at their food truck is the Awful Waffle Burger — an original concoction featuring “two juicy smashed beef burgers topped with mac & cheese, smoked bacon, smoky white cheese sauce, American cheddar, and a honey hot BBQ sauce, either between two waffles or a regular bun with chips.”
And if that’s not your choice, how about the Cluckin’ Waffle Bowl, with two fried chicken tenders on a waffle with bacon gravy in a waffle bowl with syrup, which is ranked second? Or homemade Mac N Cheese, Elote Mexican Street Corn, or a Yogi Bowl with mixed seasonal berries, yogurt, granola, and a drizzle of syrup — served, you guessed it, in a waffle bowl? (Gluten free and low-sugar options are also available.)
Working together at the Big Foot Tavern in Crescent for two years (Amy as a cook and Shiloh as a bartender), the couple “weren’t brand new to the food business,” Shiloh said. So they were able to make Amy’s lifelong dream of owning a food truck come true after “meeting our mentor through the Lord.”
The benefactor “built our trailer (originally intended for someone else) and absorbed our starting costs, including the purchase of appliances. We were blessed,” he added. The only proviso was that 15 percent of all net profits be donated to a charity in Uganda.
Since opening in March behind Badlands Artisan Distillery, having “started from scratch,” Off Your Waffle has been strictly a two-person operation. “It’s just us,” Shiloh said. “Here we are doing it all.”
Admitting that “It was very tough at first,” he emphasized that “you have to set yourself up for success, and stick in there” by learning how to organize so all aspects of the operation — down to setting up condiments on the counter, and regularly filling the propane tank — “run easier and smoother.”
Community response to Off Your Waffle “has been incredible,” Amy and Shiloh agreed. “People even followed us here from Crescent to see ‘the dream team,’ as we’re nicknamed, and word of mouth has helped us big time.”
To balance the demands of food truck ownership, the duo (who have been married for 20 years) are only open Thursday through Sunday. “We go camping every day that we’re not working, and never sit at home. You need time for life.”
