Help us Keep Batter Up swinging for the fences!

Hey waffle fans,

This is John and Julie Robinson from Batter Up! It’s with a very heavy heart that we are here, asking you for help. We’ve worked so hard these years to grow our little waffle stand to where we are today. We’ve made so many incredible fans and friends. We have fans that still come to see us that were there on our very first day at the markets! We’ve seen our fans get married, start families and have seen their children growing up. Some of our fans have been coming here for years and truly are like family when we see them. We have so many great stories!

We started on this journey in 2013 on weekends at farmers markets and different events around Hillsboro and Beaverton area with just a tent and an idea. We both had day jobs, but we loved making and selling waffle sandwiches on the weekends.

After 2 seasons of markets and pop-up events, we bought a food cart and located it in the first food cart pod in Aloha. I got to quit my day job, while Julie was there every day after her work and on weekends. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Frozen pipes in the winter, summers so hot that we couldn’t keep the electrical breakers from blowing. I drug a 50 amp power cable to the power pole 120’ and back every day! But we still loved it!

After a couple of years of running the cart, we were approached by a leasing agent who was looking for vendors for a food hall they were building. We looked at the location and jumped at the chance to move indoors! We were one of the first vendors in the Lascala Food Hall in downtown Beaverton. There were 3 other food vendors and a full-service bar in the food hall with us. Things were going well, we were starting to get noticed and made lots of new waffle fans!

Then 2020 happened, Covid was on us. Everybody knows how hard that was, especially on small businesses and restaurants.

Mandates were put in place, people disappeared from the streets. It was a scary time for all. We had to close the restaurant for months (the bills don't stop just because you close). We were determined to reopen, when we did, we had to pivot to only take-out only. We applied for all the grants that were being offered. We found that for truly small businesses (we had only two employees at the time), there wasn't a whole lot of money being offered in these grants. We are grateful for what we did get - and used it to keep our employees paid and business going - but bills were mounting and debt was accumulating.

Today...

This last summer has been very busy for us. You our waffle fans continue to fill our dining room. We are so thankful for this. We’re finally seeing the numbers we expected to see 4 years ago. As we’ve struggled to keep our prices reasonable, inflation has hit us hard. Our food costs and other supplies have skyrocketed. Eggs alone are over 4 times what we were paying just 2 years ago. While the restaurant is currently doing better, we are still faced with this overwhelming debt that we’ve incurred while getting here.

We've made some recent changes that have had a positive impact on our business. We've extended our hours on Thursday/Friday/Saturday to 8 - 9. And reluctantly, raised our prices to keep up with all of the cost increases that have been occurring over the last few years. We did do a complete revamp of our website (check it out!) Batterupwaffles.com And we are now taking reservations for special events you might have in your near future (birthdays, office parties, anniversaries, coffee talk, etc). All of these changes are helping to keep us current. Unfortunately, we are still carrying the debt we accrued.

Being in this position, we feel we have no choice left but to reach out to our waffle fans and friends for help. We have loved being part of your lives these past 11 years and can’t imagine doing anything else. If you want to see us stick around and want to keep getting your waffle on with us, we’d be forever grateful. Please help Batter Up continue to swing for the fences!

With love in our hearts, we thank you in advance for any help you can offer us.

Sincerely,

John and Julie Robinson