Using local grain, Dakota Don's Artisan Waffle Mix finds niche in the marketplace

Yahoo

18-03-2025

Mar. 17—GRAND FORKS — Don Miller and Deb Glennen have spent the better part of the past four years tempting and tantalizing people with the aroma, taste and texture of a waffle they developed in their home kitchen.
Frequent vendors at Pride of Dakota events, the married couple have introduced thousands to the Dakota Don's Artisan Waffle Mix and generated a fan club of loyal aficionados.
"People sometimes ask if you can use it for pancakes," Miller said. "You can. But pancakes are just food. Waffles are a party."
Miller and Glennen have been convincing customers that Dakota Don's waffle mix produces waffles that are superior to the "cardboard waffles" they've tried in the past, he said.
Their business's website distinguishes the product as "truly a unique spin on the classic waffle" and a "gourmet breakfast treat you'll want to shout about!"
On Instagram, a loyal customer is seen urging visitors to a past Pride of Dakota Showcase to "Come and get it. Dakota Don's waffles are the best. You'll never find anything this light and fluffy."
The original mix is made with flour produced by the North Dakota Mill and Elevator in Grand Forks. It is sent to a co-packer in Red Wing, Minnesota, where it is made into the mix and returned to Grand Forks for shipping.
The Grand Forks-based Home of Economy was the first to distribute the product across the state, Miller said.
Thanks to the help of a Fargo-based distributing company, the product can be purchased in 45 locations throughout North Dakota — including all of the major communities in the state — and a few places in South Dakota and Minnesota.
Miller recalled that, after sampling the waffles at a Pride of Dakota Showcase, a representative of the distributor walked away from the booth and phoned his company, saying, "I think I found a product we should be distributing."
Teaming up with Bischof Distributing has led to access to grocery stores the couple may not have attained on their own.
"It's not easy getting six inches of shelf space in a grocery store," Miller said.
The product has also been sold, in 30-pound packages, to restaurants, including a Waffle House in Sioux Falls and Makers Exchange, which offers artisan coffee and waffles in Tea, S.D.
As the business grows slowly and "organically," Miller said, he and Glennen are embarking on the first variation, a gluten-free version.
They have taken to heart input from people they meet at events, such as the Pride of Dakota Showcases that are held around the state.
The couple have met "a reasonable number of people who say, 'my wife is gluten-free' or 'my son is gluten-free,'" Miller said.
So, for the past three or four years, they have been searching for a gluten-free flour that would yield a "premium product," Glennen said.
Searching nationwide, they found a "very good flour" that is produced, surprisingly, not far from home, Miller said. Ardent Mills in Harvey, North Dakota, is one of the company's "six to 10 locations."
"They sent me five pounds of flour and I tried it," he said.
The next step was to find a gluten-free — not gluten-friendly — co-packer to package the mix, he said. And they found one in New York.
The new business venture, which has been supported with a $12,000 grant from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, opens another market for Dakota Don's Artisan Waffle Mix.
For 25 to 30 years, Miller has been making waffles for family, friends and students. It wasn't unusual for them to host a sizable number of people in their home for a brunch with waffles as the star. They even host regular Waffle Wednesdays and make waffles for the daycare at their church, Zion United Methodist.
The success of their business is founded on the detailed records that Miller kept as he tweaked recipes. He compiled "dozens of notebooks" and conducted an untold number of tests, he said, with input and advice from friends who are scientists. (A retired UND art professor, Miller is a founder of Muddy Waters Clay Center in Grand Forks. Food science was a new post-retirement adventure.)
Friends and family members would request — or clamor for — his waffles, Glennen said. That enthusiasm spurred his decision to produce the mix as a business.
"He's puttered around for 10 years," she said.
In developing the product, "the magic was 'easy gourmet,'" she said. "You don't have to have Don (there) to do it."
What Miller enjoys most about the business is the opportunity it presents to "feed people," he said. "It makes people happy. It's fun."
For Glennen, there's satisfaction in "giving the money away," she said. "We've been purpose-driven from the start."
She and Miller commit a portion of the profits from product sales to support independent-living programs, with a focus on young adults with autism and the housing insecure.
The winning elements for the business are based on the fact that the waffles "taste good," Glennen said. "It has honest ingredients — good clean ingredients. No preservatives. No sugar.
"When people taste it, they'll buy it."