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The folks behind Brewer’s cafe are serving up something sweet in their hometown Richmond neighborhood.

The sweeter things in life belong together, and sometimes that means having your breakfast with your dessert.

Brewer’s Waffles, the latest addition to Manchester, is serving up homemade waffles and milkshakes from the people who brought you Brewer’s Cafe. Ajay Brewer teamed up with a high school friend, James Harris, and chef Josh Reed to bring this black-owned business to life. A native to the neighborhood, Brewer and the team knew Manchester — or as they know it, Blackwell — was the perfect place to open the restaurant this summer.

“We wanted to cater to the area where we’re from, and what we know,” Harris said.

Within the community of Blackwell, and throughout Richmond, the team behind Brewer’s Waffles wants to uplift the black community in all that they do. They do this by connecting with the local community in many different ways. For example, attached to Brewer’s Waffles is The Well, an art gallery featuring pieces that highlight black artists in the Richmond area. Currently, the art along the walls was created by Justice Dwight.

“Manchester was Blackwell when we grew up, so we wanted to bring back what was already instilled in the community and keep it as traditional spots,” Harris said. “So that’s why this is The Well.”

“The name of the art gallery is The Well, and that’s the name of the neighborhood — Blackwell,” Brewer added. “The experience over here is just as important as over there. A lot of people aren’t aware that there’s something like this in their neighborhood, so getting the point across — that we stand out like a sore thumb, that we are creative, with the art gallery delivering both great art and waffles — that needs to be highlighted.”

The genius behind the menu, Chef Reed, met Brewer four years ago. Brewer knew back then that if he ever created a business like this, the well-respected Reed, who had worked in the kitchen at Max’s On Broad and helped manage Lunch and Supper, had to be a part of it.

“He really came up with an unbelievable menu for us,” Brewer said.

At Brewer’s Waffles, the names of the menu items pay tribute to various Richmond public schools.

“We grew up going to the schools here,” Brewer said. “We originally thought about doing streets over here, but after researching some of those people, I just wasn’t comfortable, so we thought about school names.”

Brewer’s girlfriend went to work researching Richmond Public Schools, and came up with six people whose names currently grace schools in Richmond. They weren’t all black, all white, all rich, or all poor, but they were all good people that had made the school system better. Wanting to pay homage to them, Brewer named menu items after the various schools.

“The common theme you’ll hear from all of us is that it’s not just about us; it’s the folks that are around us, helping build this business,” Brewer said. “The realization of business is that you can do cool shit all the time, and people love to see cool stuff. Anytime you can come across as authentic is always great.”

“My hat goes off to these two for making me think outside of myself,” Reed said.

With their breakfast-dessert infusions, the owners call Brewer’s Waffles the “treat shop.” Despite his longtime love for waffles, Reed had always worked on the more savory side of things. Creating for the new menu was a bit of a challenge, but he soon warmed to it.

“It all made sense once I realized that it had to be more geared towards desserts,” Reed said. “You know, breakfast desserts — so I went back to childhood, and all the little things that I liked.”

The strawberry streusel waffle, “The Holton,” was inspired by his childhood love for strawberry shortcake ice cream; the banana and Nutella waffle, “The Carver,” is almost like a peanut butter and banana sandwich. “The Blackwell” is more like a parfait, built upon layers of yogurt, then fruit and granola. Brewer’s Waffles also has savory options, like “The Overby,” a bacon egg and cheese waffle, and “The Henderson,” a biscuits and gravy waffle.

Compared with competitors like Capitol Waffle Shop, Reed’s homemade waffles stand out in part due to his detail-oriented approach. Rather than the traditional pre-made “just add water” powdered batter mix, Reed uses pearled sugar and egg whites to get a lighter, fluffier texture to his waffles.

“It takes a little longer to make our waffles, but it’s the way they’re supposed to be made, and it shows,” Reed said. “It’s just what I wanted. Everyone does the traditional round Belgian waffles in the city, so why not change it up and make it my own?”

Reed prides himself on what he calls the “Black Waffle,” which he considers distinct from the Belgian origins of the dish.

“You can change a recipe by simply changing a teaspoon of something,” Reed said. “Once I started tweaking things into something of my own, it’s no longer the Belgians’. We can create anything we want; I’m not giving credit to other people.”

So why did the owners choose to pair their waffles with milkshakes? The answer is simple: because of Brewer’s son, Parker.

“He likes milkshakes, and I wouldn’t make anything he doesn’t like,” Brewer said.

Parker is four years old, and already he’s the owner of multiple businesses… candy stands, in particular. Brewer and Parker work as a father-son duo. In fact, earlier this summer, the duo even biked 53 miles, from Jamestown to Blackwell, as a fundraiser for the Blackwell Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). Their journey raised close to four thousand dollars for the program.

“Every time I have an opportunity to do something, I make sure he does, too,” Brewer said.

On the horizon for Brewer’s Waffles could be a bar featuring alcohol-infused milkshakes. A food truck is also in the works. Catering services are coming soon, too — instead of ordering a dozen donuts for the office, you’ll be able to order mini-waffles.

Above all, Brewer wants this to be a place people are excited to visit, and it shows in his careful choices. Scoop RVA provides the ice cream for the milkshakes, with chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and even vegan options available. For the waffles, options include the traditional waffle batter base, a cornbread waffle, waffle cones, and a gluten-free vegan option to top off the list. Our recommendation: “The Holton” strawberry streusel waffle and the chocolate Snickers milkshake are to die for. They are both absolutely delicious!

Surrounded by eight other black-owned businesses on their block alone, Brewer’s Waffles, located at 1311 Hull St, are excited to be an active part of the neighborhood they grew up in — and to bring a little something sweet to their hometown.

Top Photo courtesy Brewer’s Waffles

It was a few months ago that Christian Gordon had an experience he says changed his life. After escaping a high-speed collision by swerving into a ditch, just out of harm’s way, Gordon found himself shaken but uninjured. Just ahead of his near accident was a small church, which he entered to do something unusual for him; give thanks to God.

Gordon says he wouldn’t call himself an avid follower of Christianity, but he even found a woman working in the church, and asked her to join him in prayer. Gordon said, “Ever since that day, I decided to show more gratitude because things could have been much worse.”

Gordon is an unusually-driven young man who came to Richmond, Virginia, to start his own mobile car wash company, Sud Buddies RVA. His positive, upbeat attitude runs through the company, from his decision to start it to his unconventional marketing approach. Instead of traditional ads or flyers, Gordon goes door-to-door, travelling from Richmond to Glen Allen to Short Pump, asking if he can wash cars. Sometimes, he even emails the editors of magazines and newspapers, offering to wash the cars of their staff for free.

“It was a numbers game to me, the more doors I knocked on, the higher probability of someone eventually saying yes, which would give me the opportunity to show them what I could do,” he said. He’s gotten a lot of skeptical looks, plenty of “no thank yous,” and enough “yes, please” to keep working. He stays upbeat even when prospects don’t pan out; it beats what he sees as the alternative.

In his hometown of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Gordon wanted more to his life than the typical storyline of those who graduated from his high school: either stay in town and work retail, go to college, or, join the military. He said, “I was working at Chick-Fil-A, and it kind of felt degrading cleaning up after people. I knew that if I continued working here, I wouldn’t be happy.”

Deciding to pursue a career with cars, which he’d always loved, he turned to the internet to discover how he could turn his passion into a career. He first started looking up random jobs involving cars to see what was out there, and then stumbled upon a YouTube channel that had tutorials on how to wrap cars. He also found a forum specifically for car wrapping enthusiasts and applied to join, hoping to get more education on the subject, in addition to networking opportunities. After 12 days of anticipation, he was accepted and reached out to three different car wrapping companies in Oklahoma, Florida, and Virginia. The company in Oklahoma was so impressed with him they sent free matte vinyl wrap with the promise of flying him out with a job offer if he could wrap a car. While he was mulling over that prospect, he was also talking to the company in Manassas, Virginia, who didn’t have a job for him, but liked him so much that they decided to create one, months before he had even graduated high school.

Throughout the next year, he moved from Jacksonville to Ashland, Virginia to live with his grandmother, and commuted an hour and a half every day to Manassas for work, commercially wrapping vehicles including box trucks, vans, and storefront windows in Tysons Corner.

“I felt like I was living the dream, all because I was willing to take a risk and leave my hometown. I was 19, working, and traveling around Virginia with this company while they were paying for my hotels and giving me per diems. It was like I had finally gotten my dream job,” he said.

Now at 21, Gordon has decided to go the more entrepreneurial route through Sud Buddies RVA. Taking his love and knowledge of cars, and the customer service skills he learned working for Chick-Fil-A, Uber Eats, and Carpool, he’s blended his experiences and personal flair into Sud Buddies.

“I don’t really see much in terms of competition around Richmond, and even if there is, a lot of them are missing significant pieces in order to get customers,” Gordon said. Because of his youth, he is savvy enough to use social media to attract a following, and created a user-friendly website that lets you book your appointment, sends you a confirmation text message, and sends a reminder text message 30 minutes before your appointment. He’s active on Instagram, and he tracks his audience with special hashtags, #WashMyRideRVA and #SudBuddiesRVA.

“I want to be more creative, and get paid to be creative, as well as engage my customers,” he said. On his Instagram page, you can find him utilizing his features such as stories with filters, and making Boomerangs of foam spray. Not only is his Instagram page fun, it shows the quality of his work as well.

“I’m trying to show people what I can really do, and show that they’re getting quality work. I use eco-friendly materials and let people know they’re getting the experience of a car wash,” he said.

With his sudden success, Gordon hopes that he can build his business and eventually take it to cities outside of Virginia, eyeing D.C. He’s also hoping that he can venture into other business endeavors, like creating a brand that supports breast cancer research, in honor of his mother, Karen, who had breast cancer when he was in third grade, but has since gone into remission. Because his mother sacrificed so much for him, he wants to give back to her to make sure she won’t ever have to go without. Not only does he want to do this for his mom, he wants to do it for other people as well, and has been able to give his friends opportunities in the form of jobs. He said, “I want my legacy to be me giving opportunities for people, and show people from my neighborhood that if I can do it, they can do it too.”

Eating Dessert for Breakfast at Brewer’s Waffles

The 21-Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Wants to Wash Your Car