Waffle House
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Waffle House is a restaurant chain, iconic in the modern culture of the U.S. Southern states.
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History
According to WaffleHouse.com (http://www.wafflehouse.com),
- "The Waffle House® restaurant system began as a dream shared by two neighbors. Joe Rogers, Sr., and Tom Forkner wanted to create a restaurant focused on people - both the associates and customers - while serving quality food at a great value. On Labor Day 1955, their dream became a reality - and an icon was born - when the first Waffle House restaurant opened its doors for business in Avondale Estates, an Atlanta suburb. After successfully opening the first restaurant and quickly developing a loyal customer following, the company began expanding and opening stores throughout Georgia and neighboring states."
Though the first Waffle House was at 2719 E. College Avenue, Avondale Estates, Georgia, it is no longer operating there, and today a Hunan Express uses that building. The 1,000th Waffle House is located right down the street, however. Waffle House headquarters are today in Norcross, Georgia.
Unique attributes
Waffle House is best known for being open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and having a unique system for calling in orders, particularly with respect to hash browns. For example:
- quarter plate = A hamburger with hashbrowns
- scattered = hashbrowns scattered (not in a ring)
- smothered = hashbrowns with onions
- covered = hashbrowns covered in melted cheese
- chunked = hashbrowns with ham
- topped = hashbrowns with chili
- diced = hashbrowns with tomatoes
- peppered = hashbrowns with peppers
- capped = hashbrowns with mushrooms (not available in all areas)
Waffle House is also known for jukeboxes that contain songs specific to Waffle House like, "Why Would You Eat Your Grits Anyplace Else", "Come On In", "Good Food Fast" and "Special Lady (At The Waffle House)" in addition to the usual country and pop selections.
With the prevalence of increasing private and governmental restrictions on tobacco use, Waffle House restaurants have a widespread and not undeserved reputation as a smokers' refuge, although ironically the local authorities in Waffle House's home of Gwinnett County, Georgia have enacted legislation that has resulted in a total ban on smoking in restaurants located in the unincorporated areas of that county. As of April 2005 the Georgia legislature has passed a bill that would result in all Georgia Waffle Houses becoming smoke-free by July 1, 2005, but Georgia governor Sonny Perdue has yet to approve the measure.
Waffle House is notable for attracting a diverse clientele. Some more traditional Southerners appreciate its old-style food and affordable prices. On the other hand, it is also very popular among younger people, because it is open late at night and, again, because it is reasonably priced. (In particular these qualities have given Waffle House a reputation as being part of the so-called stoner culture.)
Waffle House Operations
Due the high traffic at a typical Waffle House, the chain has developed a number of techniques to ensure that customer's orders are fulfilled efficiently and correctly. One technique is the abovementioned specialty lingo, in which the waitstaff calls out orders from a particular location in the restaurant using an exact terminology that allows the kitchen staff to prep the order. Each customer's table check is ordered by order preparation time, with items taking a long time listed first (steaks and chops, for example), and items taking little or no time (drinks, for example) called out last. The grill operator then repeats the called out order to confirm that it is correct.
Once the order has been called, the grill operators uses a system called "Pull for Production", in which the operator "pulls" the food items to be cooked, and puts them onto the grill to start cooking, with the goal of saving time and orderly assembling a table's order. Similar systems are used by many short-order restaurants and diners.
Variations of this system have been developed as well, such as the "Magic Marker" system developed by a Waffle House grill operator named Michael Donnelly in Clanton, Alabama. In this system, in addition to the standard "pull for production" system, item orders are tracked by a notation system in which condiment packets are arranged on plates to indicate the final order, with the goal being that the grill operator can simply glance at a plate to determine what needs to be done to fill the order.
Trivia
- The pop band Hootie and the Blowfish named an EP of theirs "Scattered, Smothered and Covered" in tribute to Waffle House.
- Waffle House is seen in the Britney Spears vehicle, Crossroads, and also the movie Tin Cup.
- "The highest counter seat closest to the cash register is the William E. Sasser chair. Endowed by an anonymous benefactor to the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration to the study and research of business management." - This message hangs as a placard among the pictures of the edible offerings along the top of the walls.
External link
Official site (http://www.wafflehouse.com/)