Waffle House is a restaurant chain that spans throughout 25 different states in the country and has 2,100 different locations open for business. Waffle House was first founded in 1955 in Georgia and has grown to become a billion dollar company that generates massive amounts of revenue each year. Waffle Houses can be spotted from anywhere with their traditional red and gold color scheme and yellow signs with black letters that are perched up high. These casual dining restaurants have become a staple across the country, but here are five things you didn’t know about Waffle House.
5. They were originally called Waffle & Steak
In Indiana, another company owned the rights to the name “Waffle House” which meant the company had to choose something else. They decided to go with Waffle & Steak after their first choice, Sunshine Cafe was also already taken and owned by another company. Eventually in 2005 all of these Waffle & Steak locations were renamed to the traditional Waffle House once everything was sorted out and they joined the rest of the company’s traditional look and name.
4. They’ve run into some problems with racial discrimination
In 2005, the company dealt with over 20 complaints of racial discrimination due to poor behavior from their servers. In some cases, servers would refuse to serve African American customers and eventually gave them unsanitary food when forced to do their job. Customers have also complained about the Waffle House servers using racial slurs to address African American customers. The company’s owner responded to this by backing up the Waffle House policy of nondiscrimination saying that it was unacceptable and blamed it on their (at the time) recent expansion into new areas.
3. Waffle House was investigated by Dateline NBC
In 2004 the United States was dealing with a bunch of different virus outbreaks such as E. coli and Salmonella, which led to Dateline NBC investigating all of the country’s most popular food chains. Waffle House dealt with a lot of backlash from this when the show presented their company as having around 1.6 health violations at each store. The company responded by informing everyone that their restaurants have open kitchens that allow the customers to see right into the process and how clean it actually is.
2. They are considered to be a cultural icon
Waffle House is primarily found more in the southern parts of the country and is a go-to restaurant chain for a lot of people. In year’s past the chain has been brought up in music, literature, and more pop culture because of how much people love it. They hold a lot of special events, even candle lit dinners on Valentine’s Day, to spice up their restaurants compared to competitors; which has been enough to grab people’s hearts and keep them loyal to Waffle House.
1. They have one of the best disaster recovery plans
Waffled House is ranked in with companies such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and even Lowes for their disaster recovery plan. The restaurants have pre-positioned generators as well as ice and pre-positioned food just in case there were ever a hurricane or disaster that could jeopardize the entire production process. Although it might limit the options on their menu, Waffle House will surely be up and running right after a major storm hits and ready to serve customers.
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