Our Story

In 2015, after not being able to afford tuition at WWU, Nate Brown embarked on a solo, shoestring budget, year long backpacking/surf trip throughout New Zealand and Indonesia. After thousands of miles of hitchhiking and sleeping in bus stop bathrooms, sheds and beaches, he started forming the idea of opening a hole-in-the-wall waffle shop through inspirations. In 2016, he packed his bags and boards and moved back to Bellingham.

One hazy night, he met Graham Berkwitt while jamming on a rooftop. After a few too many Montucky Cold Snacks, the idea of the waffle shop started to blossom. Later that year, Graham left everything behind and moved to South Africa. He worked with local NGOs to host pop up skateboard clinics and build skateparks in rural villages around South Africa. Once his visa was up, he moved to China to backpack around the country and skate the most insane street spots along the way. When he returned to Bellingham in 2017, it was back to working food industry jobs and sitting through mind-numbing college courses for the both of them. After watching so many incredible businesses close and be replaced with generic coffee shops and apartment complexes, Nate and Graham decided it was time to bring something special to Bellingham. They set out on a mission to create a space that emphasizes and revitalizes Bellingham’s weird, fun, quirky, culture that they had fallen in love with over the years.

In the winter of 2018, they bought a shell of a trailer down in Eugene, OR. What should have been an easy journey home turned into a brutal 22 hour drive back to Bellingham. They slapped a few mailbox reflectors to the back door to make up for the lack of break lights, tied a dying head lamp to the doorknob and began the trek back at a max speed of 30mph. After towing the massive trailer through beaten back roads and snow storms, narrowly avoiding several tickets, and accidentally summiting Mt. Rainier National Park (at 5mph), all while having food poisoning, they finally made it back to Bellingham. Rolling into the driveway with a flat tire and pure exhaustion it was lights out before waking up for a final a couple hours later. Since then, Nate and Graham built the waffle shop with their own hands and pockets (along with the moral support of their pups Niko and River).

Once opening up the Sweet As food truck in 2021, they quickly schemed of something bigger and more vibrant. Within a few weeks of operating the trailer, big dreams were made and the vision of opening up a downtown brick and mortar quickly became the top of their agenda. On April 20, 2023, after years of planning and months of building, the Sweet As Downtown Bellingham location opened it’s doors to the public.

Sweet as Waffles was created to bring a fun and funky vibe to Bellingham, while serving the most tasty, warm, crispy, KNOCK YOU TO ANOTHER DIMENSION AND BACK, sweet and savory waffles & drinks! The menu includes both sweet and savory waffles, with a build-your-own option, seasonally changing items, a rotating waffle of the week-ish, cocktails, shotskis and more. Sweet as Waffles will satisfy your munchies, your drunchies, and everything in between!