As a student, Julie Thatcher was pretty sure her business would be popular with the college set when she opened a restaurant in 2004 less than a mile from the university campus, reports The Juneau Empire.
She and her friends had been spending late nights making waffles and drinking caffeine in the campus dorm kitchen. If there was a place nearby and open late, “It would be packed all the time,” Thatcher and her friends agreed.
Five years later, Thatcher is happy she decided to act on the idea. She’s still a college student, but the Southeast Waffle Company she opened at age 19 has expanded and is doing well in Auke Bay, near the University of Alaska Southeast.
Her business success was recognized at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, when she won top honors and an invitation to the Global Finals in Kansas City, Mo., later this month.
Photo by Juneau Empire.