WAFEL-BITTE: COVID led Bailey Erickson to join forces with her daughter to develop a thriving company spreading Belgian waffles and entrepreneurial spirit

By Maria Rakoczy | Photos By Joshua Berry | Living 50 Plus

Bailey Erickson is ‘the waffle lady’.

She’s known across North Alabama for the luxurious Belgian waffles she makes through her company, Waffle-Bitte. The identity is a change from Erickson’s previous career in the Air Force and federal law enforcement where she was known for taking on tough criminals.

In September of 2020, Erickson’s career took a turn for the waffle iron. Just a month before her daughter, Alexis Nichols, followed in Erickson’s footsteps and joined the Air Force, they started Waffle-Bitte together.

“She always had that entrepreneurial spirit, and ever since she was a little girl, she would look at empty spaces and dream about what she could put in there,” said Erickson of her daughter. “So, I wanted to teach her how to start a business before she left for the Air Force.”

The project was partly inspired by Erickson’s desire to be a mentor to young professionals, something she wished she’d had more of early in her own career.

“When I was 18, I didn’t have anyone sit down and say, ‘Hey, Bailey what are you going to do with your life? Where are you going?’,” she said.

When Erickson missed out on her dream of being a United Nations interpreter, she turned to a career in the military and law enforcement. After retiring from federal law enforcement, she started her own private investigation business, where she learned the ins and out of starting and running a business, skills she is now passing on to her daughter.

“I taught her how to reserve the name online and then we got the business license and then the LLC, and we did all the paperwork together,” recalled Erickson. “And then, we searched around for different farmers markets, and we signed up for a few of those.”

But before they went to the courthouse and started selling their product, they had to decide on a product. After rounds of brainstorming and testing and jotting down notes in a journal, Erickson and Nichols refined their recipe for the ‘liege’ Belgian waffles they enjoyed while Erickson was stationed in Europe for eight years. They chose the name, ‘Waffle-Bitte’ meaning ‘Waffle, please,’ in Belgian.

The ‘liege’ waffles are entirely different than the average waffles in the United States. Erickson describes them as “an experience,” “This is something very special,” she says.

Pearl sugar from beets grown in Belgium give these waffles their special sweetness, and the rising process of the batter gives the waffles their signature fluffiness. When Erickson and Nichols started out, they were selling the waffles already prepared and packaged at different markets.

“People absolutely loved them,” said Erickson.

When Nichols left Alabama for her Air Force station in Germany in October of 2020, however, Erickson considered closing the business.

“I was thinking of closing it down but people really loved these things,” she said.

With an empty nest and a following, she decided to keep Waffle-Bitte going. Not only did she keep it going, she kept it growing. That’s when she responded to customer requests for shelf-stable mixes to make the waffles at home. She obtained a food manufacturing license and set up a commercial kitchen in Huntsville where the Waffle-Bitte team makes the dry mix. A year later, they expanded the mix line to include a gluten-free mix.

Today, the mix is still the star of Waffle-Bitte’s products. They started selling nationwide on Amazon and Shopify store fronts. It was picked up by local stores in Madison and Huntsville and has steadily spread across the country. Today, Waffle-Bitte products can be found in stores in Arkansas, Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Dallas, Nebraska, and national department store Von Maur.

Just this past November in 2024, Madison coffee shop, Lux Bru, added freshly prepared Waffle-Bitte waffles to their food menu. The made-to-order waffles are also served up at High Point Market in Decatur.

Erickson and Nichols have racked up a number of awards for their business as well, including the Catalyst Center for Business and Entrepreneurship’s 2022 Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, Madison Chamber of Commerce’s Bronze Start-up Business of the Year, and Gold Culinary Business of the Year.

Erickson called 2024 Waffle-Bitte’s “go big or go home year”, but the coming years look to be even bigger. Erickson’s vision for the future of Waffle-Bitte includes continuing to expand availability across the country and a food truck, and eventually restaurant, that serves their waffles freshly prepared.

Their success thus far has not come without challenges though. In 2023, Erickson was nearly forced to close Waffle-Bitte when she lost her pearl sugar provider. The war in Ukraine, which prompted Belgian farmers to swap the beets grown for the sugar for wheat, made it hard to find a replacement, and European manufacturers limited their sales of the sugar to European customers.

“That significantly reduced my ability to get pearl sugar,” said Erickson. She persevered in reaching out to manufacturers, “I just kept hounding these people. I said, ‘Look, I really want to keep my business going but if I don’t have the pearl sugar, they will not be authentic, and I will have to close my business.’”

Another entrepreneur in California came to Erickson’s rescue and became her new supplier, allowing her to keep Waffle-Bitte’s doors open and product authentic and to continue growing the business.

Waffle-Bitte’s growth has not been restricted to sales numbers or number of wholesale clients.

As a member of the Madison and North Alabama community, Erickson sees a responsibility to give back.

As such, Erickson and Waffle-Bitte are always finding new and varied ways of serving others.

She is a member of the Rotary Club of Mad City and Women’s Economic Development Council of Huntsville. Last year, she participated in a food drive at Discovery Middle School in an effort to help the 26% of Madison City Schools students who are at or below the poverty line. In September of last year, she scaled a downtown Huntsville high-rise dressed as a waffle as part of Kids to Love’s annual Over the Edge fundraiser, and for two years now, Erickson and Nichols have served up Waffle-Bitte waffles to Nichols’ fellow troops stationed abroad.

“When I come through the Air Force gate, they always say, ‘Hey, momma Nichols are you going to make us waffles again this year?”, said Erickson. “They absolutely love them and it’s a special little treat for them.”

At the center of Waffle-Bitte and Erickson’s community service, though, is mentorship. Erickson is eager to share the knowledge she’s acquired after nearly thirty years in law enforcement and running two businesses.

“I love it because no one ever asked me and helped me, and my family didn’t know any better,” said Erickson of her passion for mentoring. Her friends and family know her for her willingness to mentor anytime, anyplace, even with a Kentucky state trooper after a car accident in 95 degree heat or at a pop-up Waffle-Bitte market at Harrison Brothers Hardware in downtown Huntsville.

“I guess you could say teaching my daughter to start this business has kind of been inspirational for other families because they see their kids having an entrepreneurial spirit. I have offered to help anyone who wants to know how to start a business, I’ll be glad to help them,” said Erickson.

Her passion for mentoring started Waffle-Bitte back in 2020, and now, four years later, the business continues to grow and has become a platform for mentoring young professionals and businessowners.