With its eye on new channels — and a state-of-the-art facility to meet the growth that comes with them — waffle manufacturer Marson Foods is ready to explode onto the breakfast scene. Co-founder Dave Marson expects more than a tenfold increase in business over the next five years, and the company is already on its way to reaching that goal. 

“We could probably get our [waffle sandwich] line filled over the next 12 to 18 months, which gets that to $80 million,” he said. “Add in a second line, that’s $160 million.”

With the addition of a second shift, Marson Foods’ current lines can produce a combined 218 million waffles a year. But Marson’s future throughput goals are even more ambitious. 

“1.2 billion waffles a year — that’s the goal,” he said. “That’s the gauntlet that’s been thrown to my team.”

In the short term, Marson Foods is focused on private label and co-man opportunities, as well as successfully launching its brands into retail, to help make these projections a reality.

“With the sandwich business, if you land a Sam’s Club or a Costco or a Walmart, that’s immediately big,” Marson said. “You’re going to go from $20 million to $100 million in two years.”

Marson said the company will likely add another waffle line going forward, but the lines that follow may be dedicated to other breakfast items like pancakes or French toast. A pet food line may even be on the table. It all comes down to what the market wants. 

“Waffles are a really fun and upcoming market, but we’re already thinking, ‘What’s line two and three?’ ” Marson said. “ ‘What’s line four and five? What can they possibly be? What other avenues are there?’ ”

Diversification is key, he emphasized. 

“If people stop eating waffles for some reason, you’ll need $50 million from something else,” he said. “So multiple income streams coming in of multiple items even into multiple categories is a long-term goal for us.” 

The story of Marson Foods is just getting started, and Tyler Wallace, chief operating officer, takes pride in all they’ve accomplished so far. 

“We spent the better part of two years designing and putting thought into this plant before it was even a pile of dirt,” Wallace said. “So standing here when they were first grading it, seeing it come up through all the stages of the actual build, to now the manufacturing and seeing the line run, it’s really rewarding.”

Founding a successful business isn’t easy. Many try, and most fail. The Marsons accomplished the dream once before, and now, they’re ready to do it all again. 

“Seeing something come off the line and running hundreds of millions of units of something that people are eating — that’s what drives me more than anything else,” Marson said.

This article is an excerpt from the August 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Marson Foods, click here.