Posted on 08/15/2005 11:40:41 AM PDT by Rebelbase
The iconic black and yellow letters beckon from a sign near Interstate 40 and Randleman Road. Inside the low-slung restaurant that claims the sign, there's plenty of batter ready.
But it isn't destined for a fryer. This is Waffle House, and here, batter belongs on an iron -- a waffle iron.
Founded in 1955 in Avondale Estates, Ga., the restaurant chain has been serving "Good Food Fast" around-the-clock for five decades. It will celebrate its 50th anniversary Labor Day.
Freeway Foods of Greensboro opened the city's first Waffle House franchise in 1973 on Randleman Road.
The restaurant operated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year until it closed in fall 2004, Freeway Foods President Gary Fly said.
The old restaurant was torn down, and a new one opened on the same lot in March. A steady stream of customers filed into that location Sunday, filling booths as soon as servers wiped them clean.
"I come here every day," Sammy Davis Jeffers said from his seat at a yellow counter. "I came every day for 25 years, until they tore it down.
"And then I came to the parking lot," he said jokingly.
That sort of customer loyalty has made Waffle House what it is, said Betty Horne, a server who has worked with the chain on and off since 1990.
"Some, I know their names," she said. "Some, I just know their faces."
Since its founding, Waffle House has grown into an icon that sells 3.2 million pounds of grits annually and claims almost 1,500 stores in 25 states.
The chain now stretches as far west as Arizona and as far north as Illinois, but it remains rooted deeply in the South and retains a distinctively down-home, blue-collar aura.
"We come here every time we come to the South," said Jeanne Chester said, seated in a booth at the Randleman Road location.
The Philadelphia resident was eating with her friend Toya Murphy of Clinton, Md., and Murphy's sister, Patrice Murphy, a junior at N.C. A&T.
Maybe it's the simple menu anchored by eggs, grits and hash browns "smothered and covered" in cheese and onions. Perhaps it's the firm cash-only policy, or even the fact that the restaurant serves most meals for less than $5. Somehow the place feels like being at Grandma's house for breakfast -- before she started worrying about her cholesterol.
Nowhere is Waffle House's workingman vibe stronger than at its headquarters in Norcross, Ga., just outside Atlanta. 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 sales figures. But for an idea how well the little diners are doing, consider this: Two percent of all eggs produced in the United States for food service end up on Waffle House plates.
. As for the future, co-founders Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner envision a lot more Waffle Houses where everything stays the same.
No plans exist 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, the restaurants look about as they did in 1955.
"We serve the basic foods, and the basic foods never change," Rogers said.
"You poor southrons have never had the pleasurable experience of an independant Greek-run diner like those of us from the northeast. Puts the "Awful House" and Cracker Barrel to shame."
On the contrary, here in Atlanta we have the Buckhead Diner owned by a Greek restauranteur and the Landmark Diner, also owned by a Greek, and The White House restaurant where I ate lunch today, also owned by a Greek. Just to name three within a 5 mile radius of Buckhead. - And of course there's the Waffle House down the corner.
WOW! I remember a Sunday morning a few years ago, traveling from Atlanta to Birmingham, I stopped at four different exits looking for a Waffle House with tables actually available without a wait. Every one of them had full tables and standing room only waiting for tables. The next week I checked with my broker only to find out that Waffle House is privately held!
But that was before I got to the south.
Now it's comparable or pricier than any other breakfast chain.
The waitresses are nice and warm and friendly, though -- problem is, I know one of them in real life, and she's .... well, let's just say she's got some more work to do on herself.
Are there any East Carolina graduates that remembers the waitress in Greenville named Mary Mary? She was an icon for the drunk college students after midnight. Served our sorry butts with a smile. LOL.
Oh, please. There are plenty of Greek diners in the South now.
It's just that most of us know that "Greek" and "breakfast" don't go together.
Just have memories of driving through Alabama and Mississippi trying to find a place for breakfast, with my choices being limited to the Waffle House (dirty) or Cracker Barrel (long lines, screaming children).
Grandmas Biscuits on Buford.
Donnies on Clairmont isn't too bad nuther.
I big to deffer. In New York, some of the best breakfast nooks are Greek.
Here's the complete food inventory for a Waffle House
Bacon, ham, sausage, turkey, cheese, frozen porkchops, frozen little steaks, frozen hamburger patties, canned chili, canned soup, frozen fries, cooking grease.
Eggs, Hashbrowns, bread, buns, grits, waffle mix, salt pepper, butter, ketchup, mustard, mayo, Texas Pete, micro boxes of cereal, sugar, sugar substitute.
Lettuce, tomato, onion.
Milk, waffle syrup, whipped cream, cream, sodas, OJ, coffee tea.
That's pretty much it. Everything they sell is made from that limited inventory.
Today I was at The White House restaurant checking out the mac 'n cheese and the chicken and dumplins'. Just lookin'. I had the tuna salad instead.
The proprietor of The White HOuse doesn't take credit cards. You don't have the cash? He'll take a check - or you can pay him the next time you come by.
I'm with you. And great greasy hamburgers too!
They may be Greek cooks, but they suren't aren't cooking GREEK breakfasts -- at least not in the South.
We don't let just any old yankee in on where the good breakfast spots are.
And NO ONE can lecture southerners on how to make breakfast. :0)
I used to work at a restaurant at Logan Airport (1979 to 1980) when I was just a 17-year-old kid and just a few years ago, I went there to eat. This was over 20 years since I worked there. The waitress that served us was the same one I worked with all those years ago! She even remembered me (though I had to tell her who I was first). Turned out that one of the cooks I used to work with was still there too but he was off that day.
I always thought Toddle House was better, but I don't know if they are around anymore.
There are intersections in the Atlanta area with Waffle Houses on 3 of the four corners. Typically where major thoroughfares intersect with an Interstate.
Now I want to make some sort of gay joke about Greek breakfasts and 'donut punching'.
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