Waffle House

The first Waffle House opened on Labor Day weekend in 1955 at 2719 East College Avenue in Avondale Estates, Georgia.[2] That restaurant was conceived and founded by Joe Rogers Sr. (1919–2017) and Tom Forkner (1918–2017).[2][5] Rogers started in the restaurant business as a short-order cook in 1947 at the Toddle House in New Haven, Connecticut.[6] By 1949, he became a regional manager[3] with the now-defunct Memphis-based Toddle House chain, then he moved to Atlanta. He met Tom Forkner while buying a house from him in Avondale Estates.[2]

The first Waffle House restaurant (now a museum), Avondale Estates, Georgia. Note original "syrupy" font on the sign.

Rogers's concept was to combine the speed of fast food with table service with around-the-clock availability. "... You build a restaurant, and I'll show you how to run it," recalls Tom Forkner.[3]

Forkner suggested naming the restaurant Waffle House, as waffles were the most profitable item on the 16-item menu. The fragile nature of waffles also made the point that it was dine-in, not a carry-out, but it confused patrons as to meal availability other than breakfast.[3]

Rogers continued to work with Toddle House, and to avoid conflict of interest, sold his interest to Forkner in 1956. In 1960, when Rogers asked to buy into Toddle House, and they refused, he moved back to Atlanta and rejoined Waffle House, now a chain of three restaurants, to run restaurant operations.[6] Shortly after Joe returned full-time, Tom followed suit and left Ben S. Forkner Realty.

After opening a fourth restaurant in 1960, the company began franchising its restaurants and slowly grew to 27 stores by the late 1960s, before growth accelerated. The company is privately held and does not disclose annual sales figures, but says they serve 2% of the eggs used in the nation's food-service industry. The founders limit their involvement in management, and as of 2013, Joe Rogers Jr. was CEO and retired late 2013, and Bert Thornton is President.[3]

Although the Waffle House chain is concentrated in the Southeast, it has reached as far to the north as Austinburg, Ohio, near Ashtabula, as far to the west as Goodyear, Arizona, in the suburbs of Phoenix, as far to the south as Key Largo, Florida, and as far to the east as Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.

In 2007, Waffle House repurchased the original restaurant, which was sold by the chain in the early 1970s and was most recently a Chinese restaurant. The company restored it using original blueprints for use as a private company museum. The museum is used primarily for internal corporate events and tours,[7] with public tours available on Wednesdays.[8]

In 2008, one of the biggest Waffle House franchises in the southeast, North Lake Foods, was bought out by Waffle House, Inc. North Lake Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed some stores. Waffle House, Inc. plans to rehabilitate the franchise. In early 2009, East Coast Waffles bought North Lake Foods to become a new franchise.[9]

The founders of the Waffle House brand died in 2017 within two months of each other: Joe Rogers Sr. died on March 3 and Tom Forkner on April 26.[10]

Waffle from the Waffle House

Each Waffle House location is open 24 hours daily, up to 366 days annually. This schedule has inspired the urban myth that "Waffle House doors have no locks".[11]

The chain's restaurants almost always have jukeboxes, which have traditionally played 45-rpm singles[12] and, in some cases, CDs. Waffle House has released music through its own record label, Waffle Records. It has released songs from "Saturday Night At My Place" by Gary Garcia released in 1995 to "They're Cooking Up My Order" by Alfreda Gerald released in 2006. The co-founder Joe Rogers had high standards and said, "If it sounded like a commercial, it got the ax." If the song makes the cut it'll be recorded and make its way to Waffle House jukeboxes.[13] The songs are on ordinary discs, which are produced for Waffle House and are not commercially sold, but the chain has made a CD of some of the songs available for sale.[14] In 2012–13, most (if not all) of the locations have removed the 45-rpm/CD jukeboxes in favor of digital touchscreen jukeboxes provided by TouchTunes, which, at Waffle House restaurants, still feature all the original Waffle House songs.[15]

Waffle House provides reservation, candlelight service on Valentine's Day beginning in 2008 with one restaurant in Johns Creek, Georgia, and growing into over 30 in 2009.[16]

The servers use a proprietary version of diner lingo to call in orders, and the menu suggests some use of the same lingo when placing orders for hash brown potatoes: "scattered" (spread on the grill), "smothered" (with onions), "covered" (with cheese), "chunked" (with diced ham), "diced" (with diced tomatoes), "peppered" (with jalapeño peppers), "capped" (with mushrooms), "topped" (with chili), and "all the way" (with all available toppings). The option of "country" was added for hash browns with sausage gravy on them.[17] Additionally, the company has a symbolic code by which grill operators are told the specific orders that go on each customer's plate; a 2017 ESPN.com story gave the following overview of this code:

Using accoutrements such as jelly packets, mayonnaise packets, pickles, cheese and hash brown pieces, grill operators are told what orders go on which plates. A jelly packet at the bottom of the plate signifies scrambled eggs. Raisin toast is signified by a packet of apple butter. A mustard packet facing up means a pork chop. Face-down means country ham. A pat of butter is a T-bone, and its place on the plate determines how the steak cooked, from well done at the top to rare at the bottom.[17]

The company claims to be the world's largest seller of several of its menu items—the namesake waffles, ham, pork chops, grits, and T-bone steaks. It also claims that it serves 2% of all eggs in the U.S.[17]

This Waffle House in Fort Worth, Texas, is near the Texas Motor Speedway.

For years, Waffle House was known as "Waffle and Steak" in Indiana due to another chain of restaurants owning the rights to the Waffle House name in the state.[19] Reportedly, the original Indiana Waffle House chain has started using the name "Sunshine Cafe".[20] However, the d/b/a for "Sunshine Cafe" belongs to "Waffle House Greenwood Inc.", established in 1981. The oldest "Waffle House" entity listed with the Corporations office of the Indiana Secretary of State is "Waffle House of Bloomington, Indiana, Inc." established in 1967, and like Waffle House Greenwood, it is still an active corporation.[21] The Bloomington operation, noted for being the city's second oldest restaurant, closed in 2013 and was demolished to make way for an apartment complex.[22] (Many of the Waffle House corporations in Indiana have been dissolved.) "Waffle House Inc." of Norcross, Georgia, registered with Indiana in 1974. In 2005, the Waffle and Steak restaurants all adopted the "Waffle House" moniker, bringing the entire chain under the iconic name.[21]

In 2004, in response to a serious Salmonella problem in 2003 at a Chili's location in Vernon Hills, Illinois,[23] and by four deaths in 1993 from E. coli in undercooked hamburger at a Jack in the Box,[24] the television news magazine Dateline NBC investigated sanitation practices of popular American family restaurant chains, measuring the number of critical violations per inspection. The Waffle House averaged 1.6 critical violations per inspection.[25] Waffle House's response to the study pointed out that they prepare all meals in an open kitchen, and consumers can readily observe their sanitation practices themselves.[26]

On September 17, 2019, customers who ate at a Waffle House in Goose Creek, South Carolina, were exposed to Hepatitis A. One of the employees who had worked there tested positive for Hepatitis A. After upper management found out, they immediately shut down the Goose Creek Waffle House location to sanitize the facility. DHEC officials said they are working with Waffle House to investigate possible exposures and provide guidance for preventive treatment for anyone who may be affected.[27]

Waffle House has a history of supporting conservative Republicans. In 2012 Waffle House donated $100,000 to American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove.[28] Waffle House also donated $50,000 to Restore Our Future, a Super-PAC created to boost Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential bid. In their home state, Waffle House has supported many of Georgia's congressional Republicans.[29] Waffle House Vice-President Don Balfour was the longest serving Republican in the Georgia senate.[30]

A Waffle House in Gadsden, Alabama

A Waffle House in Hagerstown, Maryland

A new Waffle House location, located on the Biloxi, MS beachfront

As with other open-all-night eateries (including White Castle, Krystal, Denny's, Steak 'n Shake, and Krispy Kreme), Waffle House has developed into a cultural icon. Part of their fame (especially that of Waffle House) is that they are so prominent along Interstate highways in the South. Jim Ridley wrote in 1997:

The Waffle House is everywhere in the South. It has inspired country songs, comedy routines, loving editorials, a scene in the movie Tin Cup, and even web sites and Internet newsgroups that breathlessly post late-breaking developments. With more than 1200 locations in 20 states, as far north as Ohio and as far west as Arizona, Waffle House is cherished by thousands of diners. Regular customers speak of its employees, its customs, and its food with near reverence. Touring musicians have been known to eat five meals a week there. Yet the Waffle House is so pervasive, it is invisible. It does not advertise; it hides in plain sight.[31]

Waffle House is called the "low-rent roadside cafe featuring waffles" in the 1996 romantic comedy movie Tin Cup.[32] It is also shown in the 2006 film ATL, the 2018 film Love, Simon, and the movie Due Date, in which the main character selects that restaurant, despite being allergic to waffles. A Waffle House in Nashville was the setting for a routine by the stand-up comedian Bill Hicks.[33] The aforementioned 2017 ESPN story stated, "there's no business that has a more symbiotic relationship with college football fans of every stripe than the Waffle House." Waffle House is particularly popular among football fans from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference, with locations in college towns attracting crowds before and after football games.[17]

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian had an epiphany at Waffle House after his attempts at being an immigration lawyer failed. This epiphany was what led Ohanian to help create Reddit.[34]

Waffle House is referenced to in popular music, as in the songs "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang, "24 Hours" by TeeFlii and "Big Amount" by 2 Chainz"", "Alley Oop" by Yung Gravy featuring Lil Baby,[35] in the title of the Hootie & the Blowfish album Scattered, Smothered and Covered, and in "Welcome to Atlanta" by Jermaine Dupri.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Waffle House is one of the top four corporations, along with Walmart, The Home Depot, and Lowe's, for disaster response.[36][37] Waffle House has an extensive disaster management plan with on-site and portable generators and positioned food and ice ahead of severe weather events such as a hurricane. This helps mitigate the effects of a storm on the power grid and the supply chains.[38] The company prepares 'jump teams' of recovery staff and supplies, brought in from outside disaster-affected areas, so local staff can focus on helping their own homes and families. The ability of a Waffle House to remain open after a severe storm, possibly with a limited menu, is used by FEMA as a measure of disaster recovery known as the Waffle House index.[36][39][40]

Waffle Houses have been the site of several shooting incidents. On April 22, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee, a partially naked gunman armed with an AR-15 style rifle killed four people before he was disarmed by a patron and escaped.[41] The shooter, 29-year-old Travis Reinking, was captured after a day-long manhunt.

Other shootings have taken place in Waffle House locations in New Albany, Indiana; Ohio; North Carolina; and Mississippi in 2017 and in Florida, Louisiana, and Missouri in 2018.[42]

In 2018, there were two incidents at Waffle Houses where the employees called the police on unarmed African-American customers and the police deployed force against them. One 22-year-old wearing a tuxedo was choked by police officers, and another young woman was aggressively held down by police, revealing her breasts. This came at a time of heightened sensitivity over a number of incidents where police were called over customers of African-American background, at Starbucks and other locations in the United States.[43]

On October 29, 2018, a rapper known as Young Greatness was shot to death outside a Waffle House in New Orleans. He was 34 years old.[44]

• Denny's
• Golden Nugget Pancake House
• Huddle House
• IHOP
• The Original Pancake House
• Walker Brothers
• Nashville Waffle House shooting

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waffle House.

• The first Waffle House restaurant as seen in a then/now photo.
• EEOC vs. Waffle House, Inc.
• Waffle House historical marker