Jean-François Flechet, founder of Taste of Belgium, grew up near Liège, Belgium, where the waffles originate.

He came to the U.S. 10 years ago to pursue a PhD in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and then moved to Cincinnati to work for a market research company.

On a trip back home, wandering in Brussels, he recognized the smell of the waffles he grew up with, talked for a few hours to the older gentleman who was baking the waffles and came back to the US with a 100lbs waffle iron!

Jean-François experimented with local and imported ingredients to reproduce the taste of the waffle he grew up with and after many, many batches with the patient help of friend and pastry Chef extraordinaire Jean-Philippe Solnom, he isolated the perfect recipe that he is using to this day.

This adventure would not have been possible without the help of amazing individuals in the greater Cincinnati community: Jean-Robert de Cavel who let Jean-François use his restaurant equipment, Bryan Madison at Findlay Market who hosted the first baking session and welcomed Jean-François in his store for several months, Mike Luken who let him use fridge and freezer space, Christopher O’Connor and Alison Ashby who created the brand image, the first website and logo and, above all, Johan Kars who redesigned and greatly improved the waffle irons.

Jean-François started baking waffles in May 2007 in a temporary location at Findlay Market in downtown Cincinnati. He moved to a permanent location inside the market house in February 2008.

In July 2007, Jean-François began baking at the Hyde Park Farmers Market and created what the media called a “feeding frenzy”. The word of mouth and enthusiasm of existing customers first attracted the attention of local media (Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Magazine, FOX 19…) and now regional media (Midwest Living Magazine, May-June 08).

Jean-François was nominated by the Cincinnati Business Courier in September 2008 as one of the 40 under 40, one of the 40 most recognized Tri-State’s up-and-coming business, community and economic leaders under 40 years of age.