What more is there to say about the Waffle House that hasn’t already been said in our
first part of this series? Well, apparently plenty. So we uncovered a bunch of other interesting
tidbits for you. Feast your eyes on these cool facts we dug up. Here are the Top 10
Untold Truths about Waffle House - Part 2.
American Family Values
In part one of this series, we touched on the tandem partnership of Joe Rogers and business
partner, Tom Forkner, but we didn't spend all that much time filling you in on just
who these men were, what they represented and what their home and family values reflected
onto their business ventures. If when you look at the Waffle House, you see a wholesome
family establishment where you can take the kids, or your partner or significant other,
that's because the men behind it practiced old school family values, the kind that is
seldom seen nowadays. Joe Rogers Sr. passed away at the mature age of 97 years old, and
it wasn't all that long ago ... March 3rd, 2017, actually, and he was survived by his
children and his wife. He and his wife had been together for a whopping 74 years and
they had four children altogether, one of whom is now CEO of the Waffle House. His name
also happens to be Joe, named after his dad. He got the title of CEO in 1974 and has been
proudly taking his father's creation to heights that will probably reach the stars. His dad
taught him the business and he had a lot of experience, seeing that he started his career
in the food and service industry as a short order cook, which is what the Waffle House
is all about. Now talk about family values.
The Other Founder Was A Master Golfer
He also coincidentally spent many years as a litigator and lawyer; something that obviously
helped him in the world of food service and restaurant chain expansion. And expand they
did, as they now have many locations all over the States, racking in loads and loads of
money for the services they provide. Unfortunately, Tom Forkner too passed on, and interestingly
enough, in the same exact year as his partner did. Forkner was 98 at the time of his passing.
But what a legacy these men left behind. Forkner made it to 98, but he actually started to
experience a multitude of health issues earlier on in his life and a lifestyle change was
imminent. So, after the urging of his doctors and loved ones, he took up a more active lifestyle.
He chose to spend his free time golfing, and boy did it pay off, extending his life for
many, many years. He actually became a really good golfer, taking home many championships,
and was subsequently inducted into The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. A notable win for him came
when he was eighty years old: the World Super Seniors Champion for people 80 and over; quite
the accomplishment. He was married to his wife, Martha for a very long time until his
passing and through their marriage they had three children. A wholesome group of owners
indeed.
Stacking Waffle House Sausage Patties
And they sure produce quite a bit of food every single day ... astronomical amounts
of it, to be precise, and we've found a few interesting facts regarding this, if you'll
humor us. The first staggering and interesting of these facts is just how many sausage patties
they produce in a single day. This might seem pretty crazy at first, but please bear with
us, as we've dug deep to get you this information, and no, we didn't eat this many sausage patties
to get to this conclusion, so don't worry, we won't need you to send any crazy amounts
of Pepto-Bismol, but, at the end of a long, hard day, all 2,100 locations or so actually
produce just about enough sausage patties that can equal to the height of the world's
tallest building if stacked! That sure is a lot of sausage patties, hunh? In case you
were wondering, the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It has
been the tallest building on our planet since 2008 and the tip of it sits nestled quite
nicely amidst the clouds most days reflecting the sun in the day and the moon at night.
It reaches a whopping 2,717 feet overall. A mighty lot of sausages indeed.
Lots of Bacon at Waffle House
And by that same token, they obviously make a lot of bacon. We mean, what kind of breakfast
place would they be if they didn't serve bacon? Imagine if they didn't! What kind of reaction
do you think they'd get from the clients if that was the case? We'd imagine people wouldn't
be all that happy at the end of the day, with reason. No, we'd imagine those Waffle House
chefs are frying up quite a wee bit-o-bacon every hour to keep up with some pretty extreme
demands. This is a staggering fact, but one that makes some sense after all we've just
laid upon the breakfast table (see what we did there?), and if tallied up, the Waffle
House puts out enough greasy, tasty strips of bacon a year to amount to the circumference
of the whole world if tacked together like the world's longest rope ... of bacon that
is. The circumference of the world actually adds up to 24,901 miles! You grab the forks
and we'll bring a stack of plates along for the ride!
Waffle House and Professional Wrestlers
Last time, we discussed just how much wrestling and cinematic superstar Dwayne ‘The Rock’
Johnson loves The Waffle House, and although the man can definitely eat quite a few pancakes
in one sitting, he sure isn't the only one. As it turns out, quite a few wrestlers happen
to love and adore the Waffle House, and what's not to love? Especially for wrestlers, who
need all the protein and energy they can get, but there is another important reason why
they just so happen to be huge clients of the Waffle House chain in general: As it turns
out, by the time they finish wrestling most nights, Waffle House is the only place open
... well that and McDonald's, but do they really look like they eat McDonald`s all that
much? We didn't think so. So, they eat at Waffle House any chance they can get. Superstar
John Cena is exceptionally fond of the chain, as he is fond of eating in general and works
out every single day, religiously, but he happens to also be a huge fan of breakfast
food in general. So we guess for him, it works out quite nicely.
Waffle House Coffee Filling Swimming Pools
And what would a breakfast place be without quite a bit of the old coffee to get those
juices flowing. Whether you're eating breakfast and need some coffee to get going in the morning,
or whether you happen top stroll in at the wee hours of the night, coffee sure can go
a long way to help you no matter which way you're going, so this little statistic definitely
makes quite a bit of sense. Now you wouldn't think that we would be able to tell you how
much liquid that actually is, but there are those that spend their time calculating such
things, so in case you were curious, just one Olympic pool can hold almost 700,000 gallons
of water, bringing eight to an astonishing 5,600,000 or thereabouts, which give or take
a million is still quite a bit of coffee!
How many eggs served at Waffle House?
Which of course brings us to our next point ... eggs. A breakfast place sure has got to
have a lot of eggs handy at the start of their day, and for a place that never actually closes,
we’d imagine that the eggs just enter the place on a continuous conveyor belt that never
shuts off. It has been reported that an incredible 2 Million eggs have been served at the Waffle
House since they started, and although it is a lot of eggs, we wonder if they've calculated
the eggs it took to make the batter for all the waffles and pancakes being served as well,
because if they didn't, and only calculated eggs served as a whole, then we're missing
some pretty crucial numbers here and demand a recount.
The Waffle House Hash Brown Language
Some restaurants have a language all their own, and as consumers, we learn to accept
and learn those languages, especially if we want to be served those items we've grown
to love so much. At the Waffle House, the hash browns, which just so happen to be pretty
popular as well, actually come named quite oddly. “Smothered” happens to mean sauteed
with onions, “Covered” happens to mean covered in cheese (what else?), and “Chunked”
means that they happen to be served with Hickory Smoked Ham. There are other items and take
a look at the menu and try them all, as they're all amazing.
Chef Julia Williams’ Legacy
It was in season 3 of the cultural phenomenon, Hell's Kitchen, hosted by none other than
celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsey, that a chef named Julia Williams made it almost
to the highest rank in Ramsey's brigade. She outclassed most of the chefs vying for the
ultimate chance to work for the man himself and win that big bucks prize at the end of
it all. She was a Waffle House chef and she went so far, going further than chefs that
had years of training in classical French and Italian cuisine under their respective
belts. By the end of her run there, and when she was unfortunately eliminated, ranking
fourth overall, Chef Ramsay was so impressed with her and how well she did, he didn't only
allow her to keep her black jacket (which is a high honor in and of itself), but he
offered to pay for her culinary education. With all of that said, we guess it's pretty
safe to assume that the chefs at the Waffle House can certainly hold their own among the
elite of the industry. Think of that next time you look down at your plate of eggs and
waffles, and have a smile and cheers to the folks back there in the kitchen that put that
dish together.
Waffle House Urban Myth
Well, according to an old urban myth, ``Waffle House Doors Have No Locks!`` Sounds like an
old prophesy from some fantasy/adventure novel, but as we've already uncovered in Part 1,
this happens to be true. We've already addressed the fact that the Waffle House stays up, no
matter how late you get that craving for a waffle or ten; they're up and ready to serve,
and they have certain precautions set up in case they can't stay opened, but all in all,
the fact that they abide to the old rule, or myth if you will, is pretty interesting
to say the least. There's something kind of trustworthy in the fact that there's a place
you can count on to be there for you no matter what, and no matter when. There's something
there that just screams Americana, isn't there? After all it is the good and positive myths
about this great nation and the fact that we try to hold them up at all costs that speak
volumes ... about us, the people, and the myths we pass down from generation to generation.
Too deep? Well, when it comes to food and the dedication it takes to serve that food,
we don't take it all that lightly.
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