Stay with me on this one. There is a small detour through Belgium first.
A Short History of the Waffle
The waffle is older than most countries. Its origins stretch back to medieval Europe, when peasants cooked simple flour and water batter between two iron plates over an open fire. During times of scarcity, peasants throughout Europe relied on this simple form of waffle for sustenance. It was food born of necessity, not luxury.
Then came Belgium. The word waffle comes from "walfre" which means "honeycomb" in Old French from the 12th century, and over the centuries Belgian chefs took the humble waffle and transformed it. They added butter. Sugar. Vanilla. Yeast. They turned a peasant snack into something worth crossing borders for.
Two main styles emerged. The Liège waffle, dense and rich, made with brioche-like dough studded with pearl sugar, was reportedly invented in the 18th century by the personal cook of the Prince-Bishop of Liège. The Brussels waffle, lighter and crispier, eventually became what most of the world thinks of when they hear the words Belgian waffle.
The real turning point came in 1958. Belgian-style waffles were showcased at Expo 58 in Brussels, and a few years later the Belgian waffle made its first American appearance at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. But it was at the 1964-65 World's Fair hosted in Queens, N.Y that Belgian native Maurice Vermersch and his family made the waffle's popularity skyrocket. Vermersch made one savvy decision that changed everything. He renamed the Brussels waffle the "Belgian waffle" because he figured most Americans had no idea where Brussels was.
That single rebrand sent the waffle global.
A Billion Dollar Snack
Today, that humble peasant food is a serious global industry.
As of 2024, the global Belgian Waffle market size reached USD 1.42 billion, reflecting strong consumer demand and ongoing product innovation. The wider waffle market, including American and other styles, is even bigger. The Waffles market was valued at USD 4.19 Billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 6.23 Billion by 2032.
There is an entire economy built on top of the waffle. Cafés. Frozen waffle factories. Waffle makers for the home. Belgian waffle cafes alone are forecasted to hit $2.47 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 8.2%. From a flour and water snack cooked over a fire to a multi-billion dollar global industry, all because someone took something simple and made it irresistible.
So why am I telling you all this?
Because the waffle teaches you exactly the wrong lesson if you take it literally.
Now Forget Everything I Just Told You
The waffle made the world rich.
But waffle, the verb, will keep you poor.
To waffle is to ramble. To hide behind cacao, smoke and mirrors. To take three paragraphs to say what you could have said in one sentence. To talk around the point because you are not sure of it. To pad out an email, a pitch, a presentation, a conversation, because you mistake length for substance.
Do not do this. You are not a food item.
Be Direct. Get Rich.
The single best thing I have learned in business, in sales, in writing, in friendships, is to be straight to the point.
People do not trust waffle. They trust clarity. When you say what you mean, in as few words as it takes, you signal something important to the person on the other side. You signal that you respect their time. You signal that you have actually thought about the thing. You signal that you know what you are doing, because only people who do not know what they are doing need to dress it up.
Trust is the currency that compounds. Credibility is the asset that quietly builds while you are not looking. And both of them are built faster by people who can say the hard thing in plain words than by people who can write three paragraphs and say nothing at all.
The richest people in the room are usually the ones who speak the least and mean the most.
Be the Waffle, Not the Waffler
So here is the lesson, twisted as it is.
Be the Belgian waffle. Simple ingredients. Decades of refinement. The kind of thing the world cannot get enough of because it does exactly what it sets out to do, with no fuss and no filler.
Do not be the waffler. Do not bury the point. Do not pad. Do not perform.