From rowdy nights to cozy mornings, secret codes to free food,
working at Waffle House is a unique experience. Here's what it's really like.
Just how popular is Waffle House, anyway? Consider this — the quick service diner serves roughly
80,000 customers a day in its Atlanta locations alone. So it should come as no surprise that
working at Waffle House can be intense! In other words, employees have to bring their A-game!
"Look at that! It’s waffles! Delicious waffles!"
Working at Waffle House is by no means a glamorous job. Managers often do many of
the same menial tasks as first-day employees. The company's president, Walt Ehmer said —
Though how often Mr. Ehmer pulls dish duty is unknown. Meeting Waffle House's goal of getting
food out to every customer in eight minutes or less can be tough, especially when you consider
that Waffle House doesn't hold orders. As a Waffle House cook recently confessed on Reddit:
The trickiest aspect of Waffle House employment might be learning their secret
language. Unlike many restaurants, Waffle House doesn't use computers to fill orders,
which means keeping track of everything can be complicated. So,
to ensure that those scattered, smothered, and covered hash browns come out just as
the customer ordered, the staff uses a special shorthand — a code, if you will.
Here's how it works: as the waitstaff reads out your order, the cook places certain food items
on your plate to communicate to the rest of the team what's in that order — no words necessary.
For example, a face-up mustard packet signifies a pork chop, while a face-down packet means country
ham. Jelly cups in certain positions indicate how the eggs should be done, from scrambled to
over-easy. And those are just a few examples — there's a lot more where those came from!
"As the salesperson calls in the order,
it is your job to begin placing markers on the plates using the special code."
Not surprisingly, this can be pretty confusing for newbies. In an interview
with the Associated Press, Waffle House manager Katie Pearson explained that it
took a few weeks before it all made sense. However, there's a happy ending to her story,
as she's now a real pro and says she'll be fluent in the code forever.
Like so many serving jobs, Waffle House servers have a small hourly wage starting at around two
dollars an hour. The key to making decent money, of course, is in the tips. On Quora,
some Waffle House servers are reporting that with tips, making 20 dollars an hour isn't unusual – it
just comes down to landing a busy shift, like breakfast or nights. Most Waffle House employees
would agree that weekends, particularly the third shift, can be especially lucrative.
As one Waffle House server posted on Reddit:
Perhaps you consider yourself a regular at your local Waffle House. But, are you really a regular
if the grill cooks don't start prepping your hash browns before you even sit down? Well,
one thing's for sure: if you work at Waffle House, you'll most certainly
get to know the regulars. Katie Pearson, a Waffle House manager in South Carolina,
said that many of her customers order the same thing every time they visit. She's so familiar
with some regulars that she starts prepping their meal when they pull into the parking
lot. Other regulars Pearson sees every day, and she considers them almost like family.
"You know this is their second home, and
it's so easy to do that when the associates feel that way too."
Getting to know those customers and developing regulars is essential for
the chain's business. Waffle House manager Randy Coleman told The Wall Street Journal
that he won't hire somebody if they aren't friendly and conversational.
Coleman said It doesn't take him long to detect if somebody isn't cut out for the job, either.
"because they're not just customers, they're my guests. And they make me proud
to be there night after night."
Working at Waffle House can be incredibly tiring. In a piece on working at the famed
late-night dining establishment, The Wall Street Journal noted a revealing Glassdoor
review from a worker who had survived the Waffle House trenches that claimed…
Andrew Knowlton spent 24 hours working at a Waffle House and wrote about his
experience for Bon Appétit, reporting that the experience did indeed leave him very exhausted
and very greasy. Simply put, working at a Waffle House isn't for slackers. As Knowlton put it…
If you've ever been to Waffle House at 2 a.m. on a weekend,
then you know the crowd can be a bit…well…lively. And while it is true that every employee in the
service industry is going to run into rude customers occasionally, at Waffle House,
drunk customers are 100 percent expected. A Waffle House waitress on Reddit said that a
customer getting sick and throwing up was a weekly occurrence. And while intoxicated
customers getting sick is one thing, fights are quite another. Waffle House
fights don't often make headlines — unless Kid Rock is involved — but they do happen.
One Waffle House manager on Reddit said they've seen plenty of fights over the years,
including a drunk who had his dinner plate broken over his head. Another Waffle House
employee on Reddit reported they never saw any fights, saying…
Most chain restaurants have uniforms or dress codes. The only difference
is just how strictly those dress codes are enforced. Take a look around the
next time you're inside a Waffle House, and you'll probably notice that most of the men
working are quite clean-shaven. According to a Waffle House employee on Reddit:
It's worth noting, though, that these were the rules in 2012,
and numerous employees on Indeed have said Waffle House is more
relaxed about piercings now — provided your face doesn't look like a human pin cushion.
Waffle House workers are probably a bit more accustomed to working in dangerous
conditions than other food service employees — and we're not talking about the Saturday
night shift. Waffle House is known for its policy of facing natural disasters head-on,
making it a point to stay open during tornados and hurricanes. This defiance of mother nature
has even led to the informal metric the "Waffle House Index" by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. This means that if the Waffle House is still open, things aren't that bad.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a different story altogether, though. By May 2020, many Waffle
Houses across the United States were forced to close, while the lucky ones that did stay open
were doing takeout only. For a place like Waffle House that depends on a steady stream of customers
grabbing a quick bite, that meant trouble. Waffle House saw a 70% drop in its sales, and around 700
of its stores closed. Waffle House management took heavy pay cuts, and some 28,000 employees
lost their jobs altogether, and those who didn't lose their jobs had their hours drastically cut.
Between refills of coffee and slinging plates, working at Waffle House is a
whirlwind of activity. Because so many people pour through its doors daily,
it's not uncommon for the restaurant to run out of some pretty essential
ingredients. According to a Waffle House grill operator on Reddit:
Now, it might seem strange that a 24-hour diner like Waffle House wouldn't be prepared
for food shortages in advance. However, the all-hours service makes the occurrence
nearly unavoidable. But the Reddit commenter offers another explanation:
the restaurant waits until the beginning of a new shift to restock whatever's low,
so employees have to make do or improvise with whatever's on hand.
Waffle House employees can choose from three shifts: morning,
otherwise known as the first shift, afternoon, which is the second shift,
and third shift, which generally runs from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. As you might have guessed,
the third shift is not for the faint of heart. Late-night Waffle House crowds are known for
being rowdy. Between the grueling conditions and outright exhaustion of working all night,
it takes a strong will to power through. As a Waffle House manager explained on Reddit:
Like a moth to a flame, Waffle House attracts night owls seeking greasy,
carb-heavy meals. It's the time of night when bar-hoppers and party-goers need to recharge
with some coffee and a full breakfast, and no other restaurant is open except,
of course, Waffle House. Employees certainly experience challenges at any time of day,
but working the graveyard shift puts their job in a whole new light.
"This is probably the only place that's near us that's open…”
“And cheap!" “And cheap.”
A great perk of working a fast food gig is the employee discount, and Waffle House's policy
is extremely generous. How generous exactly? Well, how does free food sound? That's right,
at Waffle House, workers can enjoy a wide array of menu items free of charge during their shifts.
Freebies cover most of the breakfast menu — but workers don't have to limit themselves,
because plenty of lunch and dinner items count as well, and the options are equally
appealing — think salads, sandwiches, and even cheeseburgers. The only things employees have to
pay for are special items such as desserts and meats like chicken and steak. Still, getting to
smother and cover to your heart's desire — and all on the restaurant's dime — is a pretty sweet perk.
Waffle House workers put up with a lot, from demanding customers to repetitive
jukebox tunes. Still, none of those nuisances beats the nightmare scenario that a Birmingham,
Alabama Waffle House employee had to face.
In 2019, Alabama Local News reported on a single worker handling a location completely alone after
co-workers failed to show up. Even at midnight, when the restaurant was buzzing with activity,
one worker was responsible for everything, from cooking, to cleaning, to serving.
But if the thought of this worker being on dish duty and flipping eggs simultaneously
has your heart racing, don't worry, because this horror story has a happy ending. Because
instead of letting the overworked individual drown in disarray, customers started to help.
One patron got to work washing dishes, and another, clad in a party dress and heels,
operated the coffee machine and took orders. Waffle House thanked the participants for
lending a hand and even encouraged the dishwasher to apply for a job there. Warm feelings aside, it
just goes to show that the line between employee and customer truly blurs at the Waffle House.
There's just something about food service that inspires particularly
tight-knit relationships. It makes sense that in a bustling kitchen environment,
team members have to communicate and collaborate, and Waffle House is no different. One Waffle House
waitress on Reddit described her co-workers as being more like family than her blood relatives.
"What?"
"Man, I love you."
"Waffle House."
Manager Katie Pearson takes this all-in-the-family approach seriously
by ensuring her team has everything they need to do a good job, telling the Associated Press:
And, judging from the number of Waffle House regulars, it seems like it's working.