Waffle House still dishin’ diner food at 50

24-hour service
When Waffle House opened, only one other restaurant in Atlanta was open 24 hours. Rogers convinced Forkner that in the modern world of interstate highways and television, people would like a restaurant that never closed, not even on Christmas. Forkner was skeptical until he visited his restaurant in the middle of the night.

“I thought everyone went to bed at night,” Forkner said, “but I was wrong.”

By 1960, there were four Waffle Houses around Atlanta. Inspired by the rapid expansion of McDonald’s, profits were plunged into expansion, and Waffle House started franchising. By the late 1960s there were 27 restaurants, then the formula picked up steam. Today Macon, Ga., alone has 10 Waffle House restaurants — and only nine McDonald’s.

Back at the Atlanta Waffle House, movie manager Charles Kimbro has been eating the patty-melt plates with hash browns since he was a kid. “I started early with my parents,” he said. His father still goes every day for morning coffee. “The food is fast and they’re always friendly.”

Nowhere is Waffle House’s workingman vibe stronger than at its headquarters in Norcross, Ga. A plaque in the lobby says the whole building is dedicated to the “Poor Old Cash Customer Who Made It All Possible.”

The company is privately held and doesn’t disclose annual sales figures, but for an idea how well the little yellow diners are doing, consider this: Two percent of all eggs produced in the United States for food service end up on a Waffle House plate.

Forkner and Rogers no longer run the company (it’s headed by Joe Rogers Jr.), but executives still are required to work holidays, including Christmas and New Year’s. They figure that if waitresses have to show up on Thanksgiving, executives should, too.

“We’re a family,” Rogers said.

As for the future, Rogers and Forkner envision a lot more Waffle Houses where things stay the same. There are no plans to end the cash-only policy (credit cards would be too slow, Rogers said) or to change the menu. Except for salads and sandwich wraps, and more pictures for customers who don’t speak English, it looks about the same as it did in 1955.

“We serve the basic foods, and the basic foods never change,” Rogers said.

Maybe that’s what has kept Waffle House going. The fact that a restaurant in Tallahassee, Fla., or Tupelo, Miss., will look the same, serve the same foods and somehow not feel like a fast-food chain.

“There’s something about the intimacy of sitting at that counter and smelling all the grease and watching the short-order cook at the grill,” Edge said. “It’s a fascinating pageant. It’s more than a place to eat, it’s a place of fellowship.”

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