Waffle House-A Road Trip Icon

Waffle House is a road trip icon of highway exits, especially in the South! On my most recent road trip, my best friend and I saw Waffle House everywhere! Now I know it’s a chain, and normally my BFF and I don’t eat at chain restaurants while we are on a trip. It’s our tradition to eat local, and find new foods to enjoy, but Waffle House, come one, it’s a no-brainer!

Now we had packed a cooler, to save money and time, but we had agreed to eat out once a day. It was a great plan, but there were some pitfalls, and we ate out more than we had wanted to.

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The Beginning

Headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, Waffle House is a cultural icon, especially in the South. The corporation consists of 2100 locations in 25 states. Tom Forkner and Joe Rogers founded Waffle House The first restaurant was located at 2719 East College Avenue in Avondale Estates, Georgia, and it opened September 5, 1955.

Neighbors, Forkner and Rogers, saw a need for a 24-hour restaurant, and Waffle House was born. Life in 1955 looked much different than today. Here are a few facts from 1955:

Dwight Eisenhower was president, the Cleveland Browns were NFL champs and the minimum wage was $1.00. A new car cost an average of $1,910 while a new house cost $10,950. Movie tickets cost 75 cents and drivers paid 23 cents a gallon for gas. Of course, the food was cheaper, too. Here’s a look back at just some of the menu items and how much they cost in 1955:

Coca-Cola: 10 cents

Hashbrown potatoes: 20 cents

Waffles: 40 cents

Eggs: 40 cents

Filet mignon: $1.50

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/today-history-waffle-house-founded-65-years-ago-metro-atlanta/QNPN5Q7AT5FCTJ2DVE35CKWB3M/

The Food

The Waffle House menu consists of 95 base items, plus meal deals, plus beverages, plus endless possibilities for decadent and filling combinations. All food is freshly prepared in plain sight. You hear the servers call the order to a real short-order cook and you are watching him crack the eggs! They have served over 1.5 billion EGGS in the long history of Waffle House! The food is simple, but the food is good and fast. Waffle House actually is a fast food sit-down restaurant.

Employees learn to flip burgers and make a good pecan waffle, but more importantly, they learn about great customer service. At Waffle House, you never get an empty coffee cup, unless you say “no thank you.”

Pop Culture

Waffle House in Pop Culture holds an important spot. You don’t have to look far to see the Waffle Love! There is a Waffle House Museum is located at the original restaurant location. There are many, many websites devoted to Waffle House. The love is real! Customers and employees have traditions that are set in stone. My Waffle House tradition is a Pecan Waffle, no matter what else I order! Ohhhhh and I love Waffle House coffee!

In 2008, Waffle House hosted Candlelight Valentine’s Day meals. It was a hit and has returned to several Waffle Houses in the following years. There have even been WEDDINGS at Waffle House! A simple Google search will find all sorts of Wedding photos, at Waffle House! How about a Waffle House wedding cake?!

Merch

Because we live in the time we do, there, of course, is Merch! Waffle House swag is available on Waffle House-The Future

We may see Waffle House in all fifty states at some point, but right now they are mostly in the south. Tom Forkner believed the South was best for Waffle House because places up North didn’t have the weather to operate 24/7! That may have been true in the past, but we all know there are 24/7 restaurants everywhere now, but let’s be real, are they ALL open 24/7, 365 days a year? Nope, they are not, but Waffle House is!

No matter what you do, or what you serve, Waffle House is in a class by itself.

Shout out to Waffle House 1385 in Milton, Florida! That’s where we stopped for my pecan waffle fix! We had good food and great service and a great breakfast stop!

Waffle House, a road trip icon, indeed!