What began as a summer job baking and selling a sweet treat from the Netherlands at festivals and fairs, turned into a 40-year iconic Billings business with the products now sold nationwide.
Yellowstone Public Radio’s Orlinda Worthington introduces us to the original - and new owners - of Caramel Cookie Waffles.
Jan and Judy Boogman are busy in the kitchen and behind the counter at Caramel Cookie Waffles where they’ve spent the last 37 years, working side by side.
Jan, his wife and his brother built their business by baking just one thing.
Jan says the Dutch pronunciation of the traditional cookie, called a Stroopwafel, was too confusing for customers. So, they picked the name Caramel Cookie Waffles, and it stuck.
The caramel cookie waffle is filled with a rich, homemade butter caramel, sandwiched between two very thin vanilla cinnamon waffles.
Boogman estimates he has made more than a million stroopwafels in his lifetime, and eaten just about as many.
Besides making millions of melt-in-your-mouth magic, the Boogmans and long time employees like Zana have also created nourishment for the soul.
“Most of our customers are regulars and then we have customers from Texas and Florida once a year and we’ve seen those kids grow up,” Zana says.
And it is the customers the Boogman’s will miss most as they ease into retirement.
“Community connection I guess and the pride of making things with my own hands and that people like what I made,” says Judy.”
Jan agrees, “I like to see what I see now, some older people and then there’s some young kids really digging in.”
Besides their well wishes for Jan and Judy, customers I talked to all share one concern with the change of ownership. They do not want anything to change.
That message was heard loud and clear by the new owners.
Lily Corning-Thompson: “There will never be another Judy and Jan. Our number one priority was trying to preserve a Billings landmark and then the more we learned about the staff, products, and how Jan and Judy have run this we became more and more interested.”
Corning-Thompson, Erin Heringer and Katie Edwards, all 30-something Billings business women, went from long-time customers to brand new owners.
“We are so humbled that they chose us to carry all of these great traditions forward with Caramel Cookie Waffles,” said Heringer.
Jan and Judy have agreed to stay on while the new owners learn the business. But when the last day for the Boogman’s come, Judy anticipates it will be tough.
“You know, this might be a bit emotional,” Judy said.
Over the years the Boogman’s added a variety of baked goods and lunch items. And many of those recipes came from their grandmothers and from customers.
