Waffle House remains a privately held company today - Rogers’s son, Joe Rogers Jr., is now the chairman - and does not disclose annual sales figures, but in 2005 the company claimed that it uses two percent of all eggs produced in the U.S. Its empire now spans across a full half of the 50 continental states, and though it’s concentrated in the South, Waffle Houses can be found as far north as Ohio and as far west as Arizona. The company began franchising in 1960 and in the beginning grew slowly, but expansion picked up in the ’70s and ’80s. The original Waffle House is now a museum. Co-founder Forkner once explained how he and Rogers, who were neighbors, started the chain: “He said, ‘You build a restaurant and I’ll show you how to run it.’” They named it Waffle House because waffles were the most profitable menu item (and therefore, what they most wanted customers to order). The vision: combine fast food, available 24 hours a day, with table service. The first Waffle House made its debut in 1955 in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates. Here now, a look back at the legend, and for fans near and far, everything you need to know about Waffle House. The chain, which claims to have sold its billionth waffle sometime in 2015, recently saw both of its founders, Tom Forkner and Joe Rogers Sr., die within just two months of one another. The chain has inspired numerous books, including a first-person narrative from a former line cook titled As the Waffle Burns as well as one by a pastor called - naturally - The Gospel According to Waffle House. Is it the cheap prices? The no-frills atmosphere? Those illustrious hash browns that somehow taste better when you’re intoxicated? The waitresses that inevitably call you “honey”? Likely some combination of all of the above, plus a little bit of that inexplicable Southern diner magic - call it the Waffle House je ne sais quoi. Slinging humble breakfast fare around the clock, Waffle House inspires deep and unyielding loyalty in diners like few restaurant chains ( except maybe Whataburger) can. Since its founding in Atlanta some 60 years ago, the restaurant has been elevated to cultural touchstone, now sprawling across 25 U.S. But for now, I’m going to show you my favourite – smothered (chopped onion), covered (melted cheese) and peppered (jalapeno peppers).No 24-hour diner chain inspires quite the same cult following as Waffle House. You can, of course, include your own additions, such as diced tomatoes, chunks of ham, or even a topping of chilli (if that’s your usual Waffle House order). What I did find was that I had to thoroughly squeeze the liquid out of the grated potato using a muslin cloth, otherwise it would become far too starchy when you started to cook it. Mainly because I doubted that the kind of potatoes we could get our hands on would be any good for grating.īut they actually turned out ok. When Scott suggested that maybe we could try making our own hash browns while in Mexico, I was skeptical. I know it may seem sad, but they were damn tasty, especially because you could create your own. I have been dreaming about those hash browns ever since. Covered, peppered, smothered, diced….the list goes on. To my detriment, I didn’t order a waffle (on any of the three occasions I visited), but I did get to sample some of Scott’s (my right as a girlfriend, surely?) I was more drawn to the hash brown menu and the many different ways in which you could order your hash browns. To say that I was overwhelmed by their breakfast menu would be an understatement. Louis, after we had realised we had nothing in the house for breakfast, Scott suggested we should take a trip to Waffle House. One grey and gloomy morning at Scott’s parents’ house in St. Until January of this year, that line from the famous Bloodhound Gang song was the depth of my knowledge of Waffle House. “I want you smothered, want you covered, like my Waffle House hash browns”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |