How do Waffle House employees send each other secret messages about condiment packs?
And what's the surprising truth behind FEMA's Waffle House Index
during natural disasters? Keep watching to find out!
Not much has changed since Waffle House first opened its doors in the 1950s.
From the tell-tale yellow sign with plain black lettering to the laminated menus and
the jukebox playing the chain's theme songs, Waffle House delivers absolutely no surprises.
Even the floor plan is the same at each Waffle House location. Designed for maximum customer
contact and efficiency, the restaurant's layout features window booth seating and a
counter that faces the open grill to promote interaction between the cooks and guests.
There's little doubt that the chain's down-to-earth
decor and affordability appeal to a certain sense of nostalgia.
Rather than chasing trends, Waffle House relies on a dining experience that takes customers back
in time. One Waffle House diner summed up the dining experience in a Reddit post, saying,
"It doesn't cost a lot to eat there,
so people probably form an attachment to it when they are kids because parents don't want
to [or] can't spend a lot of money to take a young family out to breakfast."
While not quite fast food, the chain makes its money by serving as many customers as possible.
According to 25iq, food orders are expected to be out of the kitchen within eight minutes
of being placed and the customers fed and out the door in under 20 minutes.
A former Waffle House server wrote on Quora:
"There is often a sense of wonder at ordering your food,
then having it appear less than four minutes later at your table."
So, how does Waffle House manage to get their orders filled so fast?
The southern diner chain has an ultra-efficient ordering system. When calling their order to
the cooks, servers are expected to stand on a special red tile called the "The Mark."
This avoids confusion by ensuring that only one server is able to call in an order at a time.
And, even if the grill operator fails to hear the order, there is a backup plan in the form
of a visual coding system. Seemingly simple, yet complex to the uninitiated,
the system sees servers place condiments, such as mini tubs and butter pats,
in a particular position on a plate to communicate a specific order to the kitchen.
"If you were to put a napkin up top,
then that means that the grits go in a bowl, and not on the plate."
A reason Waffle House has been able to achieve such a cult following is that the chain only
closes in absolute emergencies. No matter the time of day or night, folks from all walks of
life can rest assured knowing that the king of all-night diners will be there to satisfy
their culinary cravings. The restaurant's late co-founder, Joe Rogers Sr., told Atlanta magazine
in 2007 that it's Waffle House's night business that determines the chain's profitability.
Luckily for Waffle House, night owls aren't in short supply.
One Waffle House enthusiast explained on Reddit,
"You see a lot of college-aged kids who get drunk and hungry at
3 [a.m]. And Waffle House is the only thing open.
The food is cheap and it's breakfast food so [...] why not stumble there at 4:30 [a.m.]
with some friends [...] and just chow down then go home and sleep until 2 [p.m.] on Saturday."
"This is probably the only place that's near us that's open.
“And cheap."
“And cheap.”
"She said it's always better when you're drunk!"
In fact, since Waffle House locations are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has gone so far as to develop the "Waffle House Index,"
which is used to help determine the impact of national disasters. The index consists of three
stages: Green indicates a functioning restaurant with a full menu, yellow indicates that the
restaurant is open but serving a limited menu, and red means that the restaurant has closed.
According to the Waffle House website, the chain has nearly 2,000 locations across 25 states,
with around 40,000 employees — and that's even after hundreds of sites had to close
due to the effect of the COVID pandemic on the restaurant industry. This means that you
can hardly go around a street corner without running into a Waffle House outlet — that is,
if you happen to be in the right part of the country. While Waffle House might expand in the
future, for now most of its outposts are located in the southern part of the U.S.
And while the chain's original Avondale Estates Waffle House location is now a museum,
Waffle House has over 200 outposts in metropolitan Atlanta that serve around
80,000 customers a day. According to the restaurant's co-founder, Joe Rogers Sr.,
there's a very good reason why the 24/7 restaurant is so beloved in the South:
"People stay up all night in the South. They go to bed early in the north on account of the weather.
I've worked in Cleveland, I've worked in Buffalo. The snow comes in,
the buses stop running, and you don't do any business."
Each year, Waffle House sells 85 million strips of bacon, 153 million hash brown orders, 124 million
waffles, 272 million eggs, and 58 million cups of coffee. This translates to astronomical numbers if
Waffle House website, the franchise has sold nearly 135 million T-Bone steaks
since it first opened. What does that mean? Well, every minute, Waffle House serves four steaks.
This adds up to 240 steaks an hour, 5,760 steaks per day, and 2.1 million steaks a year.
While different websites quote different salary ranges for Waffle House servers, it's abundantly
clear that the chain's wages leave a lot to be desired. According to Glassdoor, as of April 2022,
Waffle House servers make an average base pay of $4 and $4 in tips an hour,
which comes to a rather unimpressive $8 per hour. For the same time period,
Indeed estimated the salary of a Waffle House server to be slightly higher, at $9.21 an hour.
Along with the low wages comes an enormous amount of work. According to a former employee,
at the completion of their shifts, servers are responsible for performing housekeeping duties,
including washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning the bathrooms. As such, it's little
surprise that many Waffle House employees may lack attention to detail. And, according to some
diners, it shows. One Tripadvisor reviewer described an unpleasant experience, saying,
"I watched as the employee poured endless pots of water through the coffee machine with the
same grounds. Result? Brown flavorless water! I [also] found a long black hair in my eggs."
While a few items have been added to the Waffle House menu over the years,
today's laminated placemats aren't that different from the restaurant's original menu.
Probably the one most substantial addition to the chain's offerings has been hash browns,
which was added to the menu in the 1980s. Today, customers can order numerous variations of the
dish, including diced, topped, chunked, peppered, capped, scattered, smothered, and covered.
"How do you like em? Scattered, covered,
smothered, chunked? C'mon, we've all been to Waffle House."
Unlike many other chains, Waffle House has made little effort to introduce healthy items.
And while Waffle House's menu may appear to be huge, this can be deceiving.
One employee who worked for the chain for two years explained on Quora,
"The actual number of items on the menu is quite small, but having a hamburger, patty melt,
or eggs with beef burger appears to enlarge the menu while using many of the same ingredients."
Waffle House serves its entire menu around the clock. This means that diners can end their
day with breakfast or indulge in a steak on the way home from the club at 3 a.m.
It also means that Waffle House can take advantage of the growing popularity of
dining out for breakfast rather than eating the first meal of the day at
home. The former chief marketing officer at Taco Bell, Marisa Thalberg, told USA Today,
"There's an emerging behavioral trend with millennials of just
wanting the convenience of someone else making [breakfast] for them."
Selling breakfast is highly profitable for restaurants, so serving it all day makes
a lot of sense. And the profitability isn't surprising considering that breakfast is made
from some of the cheapest ingredients around, like eggs. Interestingly, in 2015, McDonald's
took advantage of the increasing popularity of breakfast menu items by introducing all-day
breakfast, a move that helped the fast food chain turn around a two-year sales decline.
Even celebrities love the convenience of breakfast all day!
"I was living at Waffle House. I ate there three times a day!"
“Yep.”
For Waffle House, selling merchandise isn't only a great way to generate extra cash,
it's also an amazing marketing strategy. From jackets and t-shirts to drink tumblers,
it's all just a few clicks away. And it's a win-win. While e-commerce has enabled Waffle House
fans to shop from the comfort of their homes, it has also improved the chain's brand visibility.
Waffle House also sells food items,
such as Waffle House Waffle Mix and Waffle House Coffee. One Waffle House enthusiast
who tried the restaurant's waffle mix at home during the pandemic wrote on The Couch Sessions
that his homemade waffles turned out better than the version served at the restaurant.
"It's the same mix, but I think that by having these waffles made in the Belgian-style iron,
you get more waffle, and the dough expands to a light pillowy texture.
The result is a melt-in-the-mouth effect that you don't get from the waffles in the restaurant."
You may have some trouble getting it, though, as it's in high demand.
"The batter actually sold out in just four hours after going on sale."
Waffle House has taken its menu on the road. More specifically, the chain offers a food
truck catering service that can elevate any event with the finger-licking goodness of waffles, hash
browns, and Texas melts. Whether it's a birthday party, a corporate gathering, or even a wedding,
Waffle House Catering offers delivery or on-site service stations. While the Waffle House truck
mostly serves the Atlanta area, those outside Georgia with a hankering for a waffle or two
needn't despair: The truck can be hired nationally by those prepared to pay extra
and cover the lodging costs of the chain's employees.
It's also a well-known fact that each Valentine's Day, Waffle House serves romantic candle-lit
dinners. However, few are aware that the roadside staple caters weddings as well.
And, while it may be too low-brow for some, overall, the service seems to be met with a
positive response. One satisfied reviewer posted on WeddingWire,
"My husband and I were off taking pictures when the food truck rolled up,
but we knew it got there because we heard our guests cheering!"
Since Waffle House can be found on pretty much every street corner in the south, the chain
doesn't have to spend a lot on marketing. Instead, the franchise relies on its iconic status,
word of mouth, and location-based marketing that advertises special offers. John T. Edge explains
in his book, "The Larder," that when people see the distinct yellow and black Waffle House sign,
they know exactly what to expect, which is comforting.
"I'm a Waffle House guy. They got to stay in touch with that."
Waffle House is also a hit on social media, which provides the chain with free exposure.
The restaurant has loyal Twitter and Instagram followings, with waffle-lovers using the hashtag
#wafflehome to document their culinary adventures. Pat Warner,
the chain's director of public relations, explained the strategy to FSR Magazine.
"A big part of the Waffle House experience is folks coming together inside the
restaurant to talk, share stories and have genuine conversations. So,
when it comes to social media, we try to emulate that welcoming atmosphere."
Next to waffles, the undisputed star of the Waffle House menu is the hash brown.
And many wonder how the restaurant manages to make the snack so delicious. According to Idaho
Potatoes, this may not be fresh potatoes and a bit of magic, but, rather, dehydrated potatoes
and butter-style oil. But you would be forgiven for thinking that Waffle House uses fresh spuds
in its hash brown creations since that's what the chain's website clearly implies, saying,
"It takes highly-skilled grill operators in your Waffle House
restaurant to turn the spuds into [hash browns]."
But no. A server who worked at the chain for two years revealed the harsh reality on Quora, saying,
"Waffle House hash browns come in a megastore-sized box
with freeze-dried bits of potato shreds in them, and hours before a new batch will be needed,
the box is opened and filled with water."
But on the plus side, this allows Waffle House to sell its hash brown mix online.
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