Jacksonville woman is "Waffle Lady" on National Waffle Day, can make over 80 variations

Look out Waffle House, a Jacksonville woman has been donned the "Waffle Lady" on a major hotel chain's social media page because of the dozens of waffle variations she created.

Regina Triche, a breakfast hostess at The Hampton Inn, was recognized on Hampton by Hilton's corporate social media pages last week for National Waffle Day. Triche makes over 80 variations of waffles, attracting hotel guests from around the world.

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Visit Jacksonville Public Relations Professional Susan Dosier said she found out about Triche when she began doing media outreach in Jacksonville a few years ago.

"When we do that, we always have to have a place where our journalists stay," Dosier said. "So, we've housed journalists at various hotels and the general manager at the Hampton Inn mentioned, 'oh, if you bring someone to the Hampton Inn, some people really love our waffle lady. People come here because of Regina and her waffles.'"

It all started five years ago when Triche entered a waffle contest for Hampton Inn employees. Ever since, her creativity has impacted many. She's originally from Dudley and came to the Hampton Inn in Jacksonville in June of 2016, according to General Manager Christopher Davis.

"Sometimes she wears fun things," Dosier said. "She loves tiaras and things on her head. She especially loves the little kitty cat ears, sometimes she wears hearts for Valentine's Day. She's fun and whimsical but in an appropriate way. She literally will cook waffles to order for whoever is in the hotel that morning if they come down for breakfast."

Triche includes everything from cereal to fruit in her waffles.

For National Waffle Day on the Hampton by Hilton social media pages, Triche showed how to make her famous "blinged-out chocolate chip waffle." The waffle consists of whipped cream, chocolate drizzle, and pecans.

"We're going to do a multi-chip," Triche explains in the demonstration. "So, we're going to do white chocolate chips, and we're going to do milk chocolate chips. The white chocolate chips give it that bang you want early in the morning."

Davis said Triche's crowd favorite waffles are her cheesecake ones — blueberry and strawberry. However, he said the current favorites often depend on what is happening.

"When the ‘Batman’ movie came out, she came up with a 'Joker' waffle with kiwi to represent the green colors," Davis said. "Everyone who came here was all about it. That was a favorite for a while.”

Dosier said Triche's waffle notoriety took off organically.

Triche and her waffles have been recognized by Charlotte Blogger and TV personality Heidi Billotto, City Girl Cece's "Top Ten Things To Do In And Around Jacksonville" list and VisitNC.com's Top Ten N.C. Breakfast list.

"Out of some of our social media postings, we're pretty sure that's how it has kind of cascaded," Dosier said. "Chris always keeps Hampton corporate up-to-date and on track, and so when Waffle Day came around, they reached out to him and said, 'hey, how do you feel about us showcasing Regina on our feed?' So she was the focus on National Waffle Day on all of the Hampton Inn/Hilton corporate U.S. feeds. That's kind of how things happened."

Triche has even trained the rest of the staff to do waffles when she isn't there. Davis said his only problem is that he can't work her every single day.

"That's just what she does," Dosier said. "She makes people feel good with food. She's just a great part of what I feel like is our tourism fabric here in how we make people feel welcome."

Dosier added it's just great hospitality and people love that extra touch. Although Triche has garnered local and statewide recognition over the years, Dosier said she's finally getting the national attention she deserves.

The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association even found out about Triche's recognition for National Waffle Day and shared a post about her.

"I think it just shows how a small town can have something that's nationally distinctive," Dosier said. "It goes to being able to recognize somebody that you don't think of as a central player. But actually, those people have a huge role in starting your day or making your stay a positive experience and Regina just goes above and beyond and embraces that. I think Hilton corporate recognized how important it is to showcase your talent from behind the scenes to the top."

Davis said he feels Triche is such a good representation of what they do in the hospitality industry, adding if he could march her to a global stage, he would.

Reporter Morgan Starling can be reached at mstarling@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: Jacksonville woman shows off waffle skills on National Waffle Day