How much would you pay for waffles? The $20 range is probably the highest anyone would go, given that there’s meat and nice toppings involved. But DaBaby believes that you should cough up $45 for his special waffles.
Back in September, he opened up his own restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina, titled No Knife Chicken & Waffles. But the prices are definitely celebrity-level instead of catering to the average consumer. Regular waffles will run you $15, and all the toppings will cost you $25. But the real surprise is that his signature Soulfood Cornbread Waffle with three sides but no chicken is a hefty $45.
Naturally, both consumers and regular people online were astounded that someone could ask their customers to pay that much with a straight face. But DaBaby argued that these are the most special waffles you could get your hands on.
“None of our waffles are flour and water, waffle batter and water,” he told Queen City News. “All of this is real homemade waffle batter. You also can’t finish our waffles. You know you’re eating real food.”
The way he sees it, he’s offering the highest-quality food he could offer. Moreover, he said he wouldn’t set those prices if he himself wouldn’t pay for it.
DaBaby Is Trying to Convince You $45 for a waffle is normal
“I don’t mind paying for quality and paying for what I want — real food. I’m big on that,” he continued. “I buy my food fresh, and I cook it fresh. We do the same thing there. Everything about the restaurant’s menu, I’m really big on my standard of food quality.”
Then, with a bit of shade, DaBaby suggested you could go to another popular Southern breakfast spot if you are dissatisfied. “Then Waffle House has something for you, but if you want an elevated dining experience,” he laughed.
While most people are still trashing the Charlotte rapper for his prices, entrepreneur Vivian Tu argued it’s well within his right to set that price. Moreover, she suggested that people wouldn’t have this reaction to pasta dishes being priced at an exorbitant amount.
“There are cuisines that we’re willing to pay more for, and cuisines we’re not,” she told Angela Yee on her podcast. “And I say this as a Chinese-American: There is an expectation that your chicken and broccoli is $7. All restaurants run on razor-thin margins and I’m looking at this, this is a chicken and waffle shop. I think there’s something to be said that DaBaby is a Black man and this is soul food and the people complaining about this would have no issue spending $40 on a plate of pasta.”
Photo by Manny Carabel/Getty Images
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