{"id":884813,"date":"2026-06-22T12:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884813\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T12:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:16:15","slug":"a-navy-veterans-waffle-shop-expansion-was-in-danger-of-closing-how-a-heartfelt-plea-on-instagram-changed-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884813\/","title":{"rendered":"A Navy veteran\u2019s waffle shop expansion was in danger of closing. How a heartfelt plea on Instagram changed everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 A waffle shop owner in Jacksonville said she was days away from closing the doors on her second location at the beaches until a heartfelt social media post changed everything.<\/p>\n

Melissa Endrina, a Navy veteran and owner of Aloha Waffle Bar, posted a video on Instagram pleading for community support after struggling to bring in customers at the newly opened Jacksonville Beach location near TacoLu.<\/p>\n

The response she received surprised even her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Jacksonville, it\u2019s time for a heart-to-heart with you guys,\u201d Endrina said in the video. \u201cWe are looking to the community for some support and some help here at Aloha Waffle Bar. We still struggle to get people through the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response was swift. Within days of posting, Endrina shared a follow-up video with a very different tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this video was posted, thank you guys so, so much for showing up,\u201d she said. \u201cWe do not have any food left for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

From empty tables to lines out the door<\/b><\/p>\n

Endrina served nearly a decade in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Hawaii, where she fell in love with the islands\u2019 culture and cuisine. <\/p>\n

She brought that inspiration back to Jacksonville, opening Aloha Waffle Bar on Skymarks Drive in the River City Marketplace in 2021 as a way to share those experiences with her community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to take all of my life\u2019s adventures and kind of put them together and create something that was, you know, kind of different to bring to the Jacksonville community,\u201d Endrina said.<\/p>\n

Endrina got to the point where she was able to expand the business to a second location in January, at the Gates of Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach.<\/p>\n

But building a customer base at the new location proved difficult because Endrina says many drivers simply pass the shopping plaze without stopping.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to be a place that people just kind of whiz by,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The decision to post the emotional video came down to one simple calculation: ask for help, or close the second shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt basically was like a last-minute, like, you know, hey, I\u2019m just gonna tell the Jacksonville community that we need support, we need help, or we\u2019re not gonna make it here,\u201d Endrina said.<\/p>\n

Location, foot traffic pose challenges<\/b><\/p>\n

Financial experts say Endrina\u2019s struggle is far from unique \u2014 and that Jacksonville\u2019s geography plays a major role in the challenge facing small businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can think about how big Jacksonville is from a square mile standpoint,\u201d said Roberto Costa, a Jacksonville certified financial planner. \u201cIt\u2019s so spread out that depending on where your location is, you might not have a whole lot of people living in that area. People have to drive to see you. Tourists, you know, people come from out of town to enjoy the beaches and that. And then you can have periods of the year where you\u2019re gonna have a lot less foot traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community shows up in a big way<\/b><\/p>\n

Customers who heard about the post didn\u2019t hesitate to respond. Tara Hubbard, who visited the Jacksonville Beach shop after seeing Endrina\u2019s video, said the moment called for action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can support in any way, I\u2019m happy to support because it takes a community,\u201d Hubbard said.<\/p>\n

The outpouring left Endrina emotional and grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cAloha spirit in Jacksonville has truly humbled me,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Endrina says the surge in support hasn\u2019t just boosted sales \u2014 it\u2019s renewed her hope. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s encouraging Jacksonville residents to keep local businesses top of mind, saying the impact of showing up can be far greater than people realize.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. \u2013 A waffle shop owner in Jacksonville said she was days away from closing the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":884814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[359203,5229,64,718,3188,723,7310,10312,12013,35197,135249,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-884813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-aloha-waffle-shop","tag-america","tag-business","tag-community","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-local-business","tag-morning-show","tag-positively-jax","tag-shop-local","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116793717196764390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}