We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Derrick Green. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Derrick below.

Hi Derrick , thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Years ago after returning from the oncology lab my wife began to cry. She was absolutely distraught so I sent our then 5-year-old daughter next door to play with the neighbor’s kids so I could try and provide some comfort to my wife. By now she was wailing in a gutteral way that you can hear at funerals of a soulmate.

Standing in our hallway, I kept asking her what was wrong and to tell me what was hurting. I felt useless as a husband and was deeply troubled by just how helpless I was to address her pain. We both slid down this wall, me embracing her as she cried, and rested on the floor in a pool of tears.

When she was finally able to gain her breath, she told me she was crying because she “couldn’t believe she had to leave our daughter here with me.” It was an incredibly traumatic statement to hear and whoever wrote that “words will never hurt me” obviously never heard a phrase like that.

The enormous risk that I took was deciding to use my wife’s fears and words as a mirror to assess who I was as a man and what had contributed to her feelings of despair. I then wrote and published a book about my experience as a cancer caregiver as well as created a very public persona whereby I’ve discussed various things I’ve done in the past. I’ve used those things to springboard me to the man I am today and I help others separate what they’ve done from what they do and who they are at their core. I used my life’s experiences in honest and raw ways to help others become their own superheroes.

Derrick , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into my industry because I was tired of watching people suffer through food related illnesses as well as walking the earth breathing but never living. I started my company, Waffles and Whatnot, from a recipe I created for my wife when she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Her third day was always the worst so I made some pancakes that were BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Apples, Toast) compliant in such a way that if she only held down 2-3 bites it would provide some sustenance for her which she desperately needed.

Years later, I was unhappy in my military career and searching for meaning to everything. My wife had passed and my mother was suffering from cancer and HIV/AIDS. I took my mom’s greatest pains and searched for a way to help which is how I developed our famous chicken breading, the Bad Ass Yard Bird or BAYB. By eating a plate of chicken and waffles, my mom could remove six pills from her daily regime and enjoy a more delicious version. My drive to help her and my previous wife has now turned into an SEC registered franchise that accommodates nearly all allergies and food restrictions.

I am most proud of the culture I’ve created whereby my staff all seek personal and professional development daily. We are constantly striving to become better versions of ourselves and that’s a very inspiring environment to work in. More than that, we inspire customers and those that support us to also be better whether through social advocacy or various other means. We live by the mantra “Life Is What You Make It” and have inspired so many others to make themselves better and thus their community as well.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I opened my first restaurant on November 23, 2018, just 13 days after I lowered my mother into the ground and 6 days before the second largest earthquake in Alaskan history ripped apart what I’d worked so hard to build. That earthquake destroyed valuable equipment, all of my food products, and left me struggling to flip couch cushions to make payroll. Being a complete novice and business and unable to fully recover, I made a series of mistakes in the business that eventually led to me losing my house and my restaurant within 24 hours of each other. I literally used the same rented U-Haul to move my household goods to storage and my restaurant equipment into the garage of the newly rented apartment I moved to.

I was publicly humiliated, my wife took the children and went home to Israel for a mental break, my oldest daughter headed off to Germany as an exchange student, and I retired from the military. Indeed, my life seemed to be in a very deep pit. I allowed myself time to wallow in the self pity pool. I then bought a book of giant Post-It notes and some markers which I used to write down all the mistakes I could find. I then envisioned a better way to counter every mistake I’d made which led to the creation of Waffles and Whatnot as it exists today.

2019 was a very hard year for me but, 3 years later, Waffles and Whatnot had been featured on two of Guy Fieri’s shows, had given away 2020 waffle meals to families during covid, and I’d been featured in both USA Today and Entrepreneur Magazine. I could have very easily filed for bankruptcy but I used that rock bottom experience to lay the foundation of what is becoming today.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I recently negotiated a lease/purchase of a restaurant using only leverage and not a penny from my wallet. I did so by leveraging my years of experience in the food industry and my speaking ability to talk with several family diner style restaurants in the Orlando area. I was seeking folks that were looking to retire or convert their business into a passive vehicle for them but a foot in the door for me.

I found a willing restaurant but hit a snag; they wanted $5k down as earnest money and another $100k on an asset purchase agreement that would stand as proof I wanted to buy the restaurant. Without hesitation I said yes. That was Mar 1, 2023. By March 3, I came up with a plan to allow friends and family to buy into the new venture by offering 5% of the gross revenue of the restaurant in exchange for 50 increments sold for $5,000 each. To sweeten the deal, I vowed to create an endowment fund whereby 5% of the gross revenue for all Waffles and Whatnot ventures would be deposited into it and used to generate interest. A portion of that interest would be distributed annually to those that had invested and any future investors on upcoming products.

To then convert it into an offer they couldn’t refuse, I offered the dividends off those accounts in perpetuity. In doing so, the number one question of “how long will it take to get my money back?” was negated because it solidified the long term nature of this investment. I was able to raise $180k of the $250k I sought within 72 hours which allowed me to secure the restaurant without spending a dime of my own money.

There will be those that frown at the deal I made or judge the structure of it and, sure, there is criticism to be made. However, please know that while their critiques are being formulated and shared, that restaurant is already cash flowing while a smarter entrepreneur may spend the next year or so trying to build a WeFunder campaign or secure funding from a lending institution. How many months or years of revenue will I have generated before they get their doors open and who will have a more compelling story to market?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wafflesandwhatnot.com or www.derricklgreen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waffles_whatnot/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wafflesandwhatnot
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-green-676191b4/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wafflesandwhatnot4284
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/waffles-and-whatnot-anchorage-5?start=60