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—Entrepreneur

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Tia Hoffman and Noah Goldsmith, partners who opened the Wafel Shop
in Ann Arbor last month

Waffle, Anyone?

32940 Middlebelt Rd.

(At 14 Mile Rd. in the Broadway Plaza)

(248) 855-1730

Wafel Shop's owner builds community
through business.
RYAN FISHMAN I SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

N

oah Goldsmith attributes
growing up between
Metropolitan Detroit and
Ann Arbor's vibrant Jewish
communities with inspiring him to build
community through business.
Goldsmith, proprietor of Ann Arbor's
new Wafel Shop with Tia Hoffman, was
born in Detroit and raised in Farmington
Hills before moving to the urban center
he now calls home. A Hillel Day School
alumnus, his family made the move to
Ann Arbor when he was 8.
"My family was always involved with
Federation, and my brother was a staff
writer for the Jewish News in the late
'90s," recalls Goldsmith, 32, who also
remembers his maternal grandparents'
lifelong involvement with the Labor
Zionist movement.
"Culturally, I identify very much as a
Jew. It's a major part of who I am and
the adult I have become. I have strong
cultural ties to my religion, and I've been
shaped by that sense of community
unique to Metropolitan Detroit."
Goldsmith says Wafel Shop uses as
many local businesses for suppliers
as possible. He believes he has an
important role to play in building
community relationships as a
businessman and as a stakeholder in
the region's future potential.
One supplier is Zingerman's Deli,
which brews a special Wafel Shop
coffee blend, but there's more to
Goldsmith's ties with the famous deli
than just the dark roast:
"When I was 16, I was working
behind the deli counter, and so the
relationship is longstanding, and
it's a reflection of what I believe is
important — to grow our community
by making a positive impact, just as it
makes its own impact on me."
But Wafel Shop isn't just about a
passion for community building; the
idea grew out of Goldsmith's passion
for waffles.

While studying in the Netherlands,
Goldsmith says he ate a waffle covered
in chocolate that was "unlike any other
waffle [he] had ever tasted." After
spending years trying to figure out
what it was he ate, he stumbled upon a
recipe for a Belgian Liege waffle, made
out of a hard, compacted pearl sugar,
"sort of like rock candy." The sugar
caramelizes inside of and on top of the
waffle as it cooks in a specialty iron,
and after "several hundred variations,"
Goldsmith landed on the waffle
featured at his business today.
Wafel Shop (taking the Dutch spelling
of waffle) opened its doors on Feb. 4
on Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor after
about 15 months of planning. Waffles cost
$5; additional toppings are extra. He says
customers are excited about the product
and he looks forward to opportunities for
expansion across the region.
Goldsmith went from Ann Arbor to
Kalamazoo College after high school,
where he pursued a degree in theater
that took him to New York to work on
Broadway. He pursued a career as an
actor, but ended up producing, and
eventually found work as an equity
trader. He returned to Michigan to study
business at Wayne State University and,
ultimately, his passion for food and
recipes brought him back to Ann Arbor.
"I saw so much possibility in
southeast Michigan when I moved
home, and everyday at Wayne I thought
about what I could do in the city of
Detroit. I couldn't find a concrete
answer, so I came back to Ann Arbor,
and I really look forward to the day
when I can open a Wafel Shop location
in Detroit," says Goldsmith.
"Our local Jewish community has an
ingenuity and work ethic that makes
nothing impossible, and I would love to
be a part of one more story that paints
a picture of our regional potential,
rather than focusing on poverty and
urban blight." ❑

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March 14 • 2013

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