A giant cutout of man with poofy red hair stirring a mixing bowl protrudes from the sunroof of a small blue Honda sitting outside the house. Another similar painting is positioned above the fence, and a few more are scattered in the yard behind.
“It’s this guy,” Omer Orian says, pointing to his brother. “No,” Dave Orian says, “It doesn’t even really look like either of us. It’s just a concept.” After a few laughs, Omer concludes, “It’s the waffle guy.” The cutout resembles a cartoon version of the brothers, with a large orange Afro that each has, to some extent.
With as much chemistry between them as between the delectable ingredients in their waffles, the Orian brothers are the owners of Off the Waffle, a business offering authentic Liege waffles stuffed with a variety of fillings.
At the shop, near West 7th Avenue on Van Buren, the brothers have been running with the concept for five months now. Made using a waffle-maker hand-crafted in Belgium by a small-time artisan named Bennie, these waffles stirred up some talk.
The thick waffle, which comes in original or muesli batter styles, is cut in half and filled like a pita with the ingredients of your choice. The Orians offer fillings such as mango and raspberry sorbetto, goat cheese, walnuts, kiwi
and granola.
Dave and Omer Orian have lived all over the world, but their story, they said, started on a farm in Argentina. In
November, Dave was traveling and working on farms in the South American country when he received a call from his brother, who had recently moved to London for a job.
“After about two days, I never even went to the actual job,” Omer said. “I called him in Argentina and said it wasn’t working out for me.” The two decided to meet in San Francisco, where they bought a car and drove north, looking for a place to live.
After couch-surfing in Eugene for about a month, the two decided to call the town home. “We eventually started thinking, ‘Let’s stick around. We’ll open up a hostel,’” Dave said.
The hostel idea changed over time as the brothers decided they liked the idea of making authentic Belgian waffles. The brothers turned their house into a waffle lab, taste-testing anything that came into their minds and using the public as lab rats. “We would make some waffles, have some fun,” Dave said, explaining that nothing but a curtain separated the customers from the Orians’ living room. “We were just selling some waffles, no real (business) permits.”
The curtain eventually retreated farther and farther into the brothers’ living space. “People liked it more so we pushed it back. People liked it more so we opened up this room,” said Dave of the room next to the living room, which happens to be his bedroom. The two brothers were the only employees, working 16-hour days for the first few months. They have since moved out of the house, transforming it to solely Off The Waffle.
Littered with “pastry bag art,” a barter wall, book exchange shelf and a joke basket, Off the Waffle exudes the character of the friendly duo who own and run the shop. The brothers are a prime example of entrepreneurs, using free advertisements such as Craigslist, and thriving with the help of other business owners in the area. “We would make a post on Craigslist, like in the Missed Connections sections, ‘I saw you eating a blueberry goat cheese waffle at Off the Waffle.’ It got a ton of hits and the next thing you know people are coming in here ordering a blueberry goat cheese waffle,” said Omer.
When the brothers first got started, New Frontier Market, located around the corner, offered samples and advertised for the growing, budding waffle entrepreneurs. “They were the cornerstone of our foundation. They made it entirely possible to just start selling waffles,” Omer said. “They were just so supportive and they just wanted to help us out and see us succeed.”
Now, after only five months of business in the Whitaker neighborhood, the brothers have opened a small cart near campus. Sitting in front of the tattoo parlor High Priestess, the waffle cart is sporadically open for a waffle, but will be fully operating by the beginning of fall term, when it will be open 24 hours.
High Priestess owner Georg Birns took an instant liking to the Orian brothers and decided to give them a leg up in
launching their campus idea. “I’m partial to the Jew-‘fro, because I used to have it,” Birns said with a chuckle. The Orian brothers call Israel, where most of their immediate family lives, “home base.”
“I like to give other people a fair shake,” Birns said. “In this downtrodden economy, no one’s giving out free bones. A grassroots business is how I started. They reminded me of myself 10 years ago.”
The two business owners first met when Birns investigated their colorful shop on Van Buren Street. “I kind of envisioned a big plate with syrup and butter, and he hands me a stuffed waffle in a bag,” he said. “They really broke the mold. They are pushing something they tried overseas and putting American ideology behind it. They are something unique.”
Birns had the perfect setup for the waffle stand — having been previously interested in opening a coffee stand, the path was all paved for the brothers. “I told them, ‘Not only do I have the space and 20 to 50 people a day walking by from tattoos and piercings, but I even have the cart to sell,’” he said.
The brothers have found that Eugene’s business owners and community are ultimately what helped them succeed. “Eugeneans are very supportive — and hungry,” Dave said.
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