— The Greenville-based gourmet waffle company Smashed Waffles opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Raleigh on Tuesday.

Smashed Waffle Cafe is located at 2304 Hillsborough St. in The Broadloom retail space next to Insomnia Cookies.

Founders Justin Cox and Hunter Harrison came up with the idea for Smashed Waffles after meeting to discuss a possible mobile app in 2016.

"He really enjoys cooking. I had ideas to start a restaurant," Harrison told WRAL last year.

Their first idea was biscuits.

"Everybody is doing biscuits," Harrison said. "We feel like everybody loves waffles, but not everyone is doing it."

There was a challenge to find a recipe that prevented the waffles from getting soggy.

"If you go to the Waffle House or basically any waffle place, you are probably going to get a buttermilk batter waffle, which tends to get soggy after time," Harrison said.

After a lot of research into the origin of waffles, the two found that in Belgium, chefs had been using a dough-base, which is similar to a bagel or doughnut. The recipe keeps the waffle good for a few days and even holds warmth for a couple of hours.

Smashed Waffles are also smaller, making it easier for people to pick them up and eat them like a doughnut.

The company launched in Greenville as a test market with just deliveries. Waffles were made in a private commercial kitchen and delivered locally. The two often did deliveries themselves at first, but soon grew to a fleet of 15 drivers on a daily basis handling orders. Smashed Waffle Cafe opened its first location in Greenville in November.

Smashed Waffles moved into the Raleigh market in early 2017 and have been featured on the weekend brunch menu at Pizza La Stella in downtown Raleigh. La Stella owner Rudy Theale is one of the investors in Smashed Waffles.

The waffle menu includes The O.G. (a classic Brioche waffle topped with honey, cinnamon cream sauce and powered sugar), the Campfire (a miniature marshmallow-infused waffle topped with marshmallow cream sauce, Nutella drizzle, graham cracker crumbles and powered sugar) and the Chip Chip Hooray (their take on a the classic chocolate chip waffle featuring cookie butter and mini chocolate chips). The Cereal Thriller includes crushed cereal, sweet cream cheese sauce and powered sugar. The type of cereal used changes daily. The Swirly Sin started as a weekly promotional item but became a core menu favorite for its cinnamon swirl infused dough and cream cheese icing topping.

The Smashed Waffle Cafe in Raleigh's menu will include sweet and savory options.

"We expanded our menu to include not only the sweet waffle versions that people had grown to love, but also savory waffles like smashed Waffle-Wiches, ice cream Smashed-Wiches, custom lattes, and specialty coffees,” Cox said. "This expansion keeps us true to our vision of showing the world that the waffle can be not only an amazing breakfast item or, in our case, an alternative to the doughnut, but we want to prove that waffles are the new bread."

To go with those waffles, the cafe will be serving two premium roast coffees; a medium roast, Morning Mojo, and a dark roast, Blackout, both made from single-origin beans. Nitro cold brewed coffee and lattes are also on the menu.

For every cup of coffee they sell, a portion of the proceeds goes to help benefit families that are affected by autism.