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If You Can Manage a Waffle House, You Can Manage Anything
Wall Street Journal ^ | 11/02/2019 | Sam Walker

Posted on 11/04/2019 2:05:07 PM PST by Textide

Since she graduated from Harvard last year, Yehong Zhu has worked for Amazon.com and Twitter in Seattle, San Francisco and London. She’s living in Lisbon now, gathering ideas for her own startup.

In 2014, however, the jet-setting Ms. Zhu was just another teenager from Newnan, Ga. looking for a summer job. And the only place willing to hire her was Waffle House. “Chick Fil-A was too competitive,” she says.

On her first day, smiling nervously behind a bright-yellow name tag, Ms. Zhu had no idea that her new manager, a woman named Diana, was about to become a lasting leadership role model. “I was very impressed with her,” she says. “She was the first to arrive and one of the last to leave and seemed to have a handle on everything. She thrived under pressure, and pressure at Waffle House is constant.”

In case you’re not familiar, Waffle House is a closely held suburban Atlanta-based chain of 24-hour budget diners in 25 states that invariably reek of bacon. The company does not advertise, rarely changes its menu and refused to take credit cards until 2006.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food
KEYWORDS: wafflehouse
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To: mad_as_he$$

I was gonna say: Did they REALLY attach the word “reek” to BACON??


21 posted on 11/04/2019 2:44:53 PM PST by Dr. Zzyzx
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To: Textide

I said the same thing when I ran a Denny’s: “if I can run one of these...”


22 posted on 11/04/2019 2:46:54 PM PST by ex91B10 (Powered by the Penguin)
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To: Texas resident

Came here to mention that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index


23 posted on 11/04/2019 2:47:12 PM PST by Dr. Zzyzx
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To: SamAdams76

Best grits I ever had was at the Waffle House just west of Dayton Ohio.


24 posted on 11/04/2019 2:50:11 PM PST by Colo9250
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To: max americana

That’s Dennys


25 posted on 11/04/2019 2:58:16 PM PST by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?)
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To: Colo9250

As a Daytonian, a specific location would be helpful to give ‘em a try.


26 posted on 11/04/2019 2:59:31 PM PST by newfreep ("INSIDE EVERY PROGRESSIVE IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT" - DAVID HOROWITZ)
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To: Textide

They have a lot of fights that go viral. But Popeye’s is giving them a run at viral videos. A lot of agitated people want their chicken sandwiches


27 posted on 11/04/2019 3:00:32 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: Textide
I was at a Waffle House in Covington, Louisiana and ordered an omelet topped with chili. Best omelet I ever had! It was wonderful! ;-)
28 posted on 11/04/2019 3:04:03 PM PST by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise
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To: Textide

I just made a Chaffle last night ... tasted like an Omelet so obviously I didn’t use enough cheese

Doesn’t matter I LOVE EGGS


29 posted on 11/04/2019 3:05:03 PM PST by TexasTransplant (Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!)
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To: Textide

Never had a bad meal at a Waffle House.

They’re open 365 days a year, btw. I’ve eaten there once or twice on Christmas day.


30 posted on 11/04/2019 3:05:51 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: Textide
I'll often cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and drive up the eastern shore to Middletown, DE just for a Waffle House late breakfast... Located right nexxt to a huge WAWA... Easy 1-hour zero-traffic trip, as long as we avoid the rush hour stuff on the bridge...

Also stop there every time we go north to (or return south from) New England or just the Delaware Park Racetrack & Casino in Wilmington...

Good food... Good service...

31 posted on 11/04/2019 3:09:15 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
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To: Textide

No thanks— I’ll make nice eggs and pancakes at home in peaceful kitchen less the Waffle Homies gangish like ambience giving me indigestion.


32 posted on 11/04/2019 3:10:11 PM PST by tflabo (Prince of Peace, Lion of Righteousness)
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To: tflabo

I prefer making my eggs and bacon at home too but I travel a lot so need options other than my kitchen.

In the Northeast, we don’t have Waffle Houses but that doesn’t mean I go to IHOP (horrible place). There are tons of great diners in the area, especially around NYC. In fact, if anybody is passing through the Southern Connecticut area, check out the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown, which is right off Exit 10 on I-84.


33 posted on 11/04/2019 3:16:19 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: SuperLuminal

I might try that this weekend. From Annapolis, the closest WH locations as the crow flies are near Frederick or Richmond. Hadn’t considered the traffic angle. Thanks!


34 posted on 11/04/2019 3:19:39 PM PST by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
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To: SamAdams76

Growing up, it was one of the few places that teens could go late at night and smoke. It was a sort of refuge from suburbia for my group, believe it or not. The beauty of Lib’s patty melts and learning the vernacular of WH were plusses. I enjoy the atmosphere, though smoke-free now, during my Southern road trips to see family.


35 posted on 11/04/2019 3:26:24 PM PST by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
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To: Textide; Gamecock; SaveFerris

There are some who would say that “eggs are eggs.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4eeeCnSkmc

I might differ, though.


36 posted on 11/04/2019 3:43:55 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Textide

There’s a Waffle House in Dumfries, VA. I-95 right off exit 152B, Rt. 234. It’s about 2.5 miles north of the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico. I know it well.


37 posted on 11/04/2019 3:45:27 PM PST by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: Textide

Bookmark


38 posted on 11/04/2019 3:45:29 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Textide

Never had a bad meal in a Waffle House. I have several friends whose experiences apparently vary from mine, to the extent of using “Awful Waffle” as their nickname for the chain.


39 posted on 11/04/2019 3:45:58 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Textide

I read about the founder a few years ago, probably when he passed away. He said it was important to him that his employees, who were kind of low on the pecking order of life, be treated fairly/respectfully. Their lives outside of work could be very hard or chaotic, and he couldn’t change all that, but he could at least make sure that when they showed up for work, they could expect to be treated fairly.


40 posted on 11/04/2019 3:46:33 PM PST by married21
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