Mess Waffles has become a household name for most residents in the Bryan/College Station area with customers who are faithful to the savory and sweet treats. From a humble beginning making waffles out of his food truck, Sal Maredia has grown his business to be a favorite for locals. Graduating from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University in 2011 with a degree in Supply Chain Management, Sal joined the corporate world shortly after graduation.
“Corporate life in a way wasn't challenging enough, but I did enjoy it,” Sal says. “But eventually, I stopped enjoying it. Then I decided for myself, well I’ve always loved food!”
Sal’s heart for service is what eventually led him to the decision to start his own food truck.
“I always enjoyed cooking,” Salsays. “I’ve always enjoyed serving people, even guests at my home. I just thought, maybe I could do a food truck. It’s low cost, a minimal investment compared to a restaurant, I think I could afford it.”
The food truck opened in 2014, and business soared.
“We used to park at a bank, which is where Aspire is now,” Sal says.“Then we got in contact with TexasA&M and that’s when we really blew up because everyone knew who we were. Everyone knew how to find us and it was really amazing.”
With business booming, Sal and the Mess team wanted more. They were uncertain of how long the food truck would actually last and craved something to call their own, Sal says. Plans for a brick and mortar location began and before they knew it, they open the doors to the public in Century Square in October of 2018. Located just off UniversityDrive, Mess is still very much part of the campus community.
“I wanted something close to campus because we were on campus as a food truck,” Sal says. “That’s where a lot of our audience was and because of the proximity to campus, it’s really the place to be. We got this corner to ourselves and we’ve really made it our own.”
With a new location and new commitment to customers, Mess made some major changes: moving from the food truck to the brick and mortar including expanding their menu to include original favorites that took a hiatus during the busyness of the truck.
“We kept the chicken and waffles,” Sal says. “That’s our staple. Believe it or not, the chicken and waffles hasn’t changed since we started. It’s the other things that have changed — we went from a waffle food truck, to more comfort food like chicken and waffles and mac and cheese. We just went further into that so now we’re breakfast, brunch and comfort food.”
Mess has transformed traditional comfort food into an exciting experience for your taste buds. Weekly, they serve your traditional breakfast favorites like chicken and waffles, Nutella waffles, and french toast. If customers are looking for something a little bit more interesting, they offer some delicious and experimental options such as the Reece’s PB&J waffle, cookie butter waffle and an egg sandwich with fried chicken which is sure to leave customers wanting more.
As for more brunch and lunch items, Mess offers a wide variety of mac and cheese and chicken options. A few mac and cheese variations include the Up, Cluck, and Away which is a buffalo and ranch chicken mac and cheese and the cajun mac and cheese features chicken with a cajun seasoning that is sure to tickle your taste buds. If customers want something a little less spicy, try the brisket mac, which showcases delicious house-made Texas brisket drizzled with barbeque sauce, and topped with crunchy dill pickles. However, the star of the show might be their Nashville hot chicken which can come in the form of tenders, a sandwich or inside the delectable mac and cheese.
“We have really good Nashville hot chicken as well,” Sal says. “We take it as a huge compliment when people from Nashville and who have had actual Nashville hot chicken say ours is just as good as the ones they had there. That makes me feel really proud.”
Sal made his family a priority when deciding where to set up his first brick and mortar restaurant. As a College Station native and Texas A&M former student, staying in the community was important.
“Some people think that we’re a chain or from a different city,” Sal says. “We really want people to know that we’re Aggie owned, native owned and operated. We love being a part of the community.”
Sal’s family has been the biggest support system for him in this new season of his life, he added. With his dad owning several businesses in the Bryan/College Station area, his family was a great source of knowledge when starting his own. One of the biggest things that he learned was by not cutting corners, customers will notice the quality of your product, Sal says. As his business continues to grow, so does his family. He became a first time dad last year. When looking ahead to the future, Sal is unsure of what the next few years will look like.
“I just became a dad this past year,” Sal says. "Before that there were plans to hopefully grow to a second location, but now that I’ma dad, I really want to find a good balance between being a good dad and family person and also being a restaurant owner. The time to grow will come, but for now I’m focused on making the restaurant experience better for customers.”
Mess Waffles is located in Century Square at 170 CenturySquare Drive, Suite 10 in College Station and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visitmesswaffles.com or call (979) 704-5200.
