Waffle House part of American culture
If you grew up in the Southeast, chances are you hold a special place in your heart for the classic diner food served around the clock at Waffle House.
But let’s be honest, Waffle House is about so much more than the food. Maybe it’s where you ate with your grandparents after church. Maybe you take your kids there for breakfast on Saturday mornings. Or maybe you’re in the tribe of young folks who enjoy it in the wee hours of the morning to stave off a hangover.
Since its founding in 1955, Waffle House has been ingrained in Southern culture. Today, the Atlanta-based chain and its bright yellow sign is an icon on main thoroughfares and off interstates across the U.S.
That’s why news of a deadly shooting at a Nashville Waffle House early Sunday morning shook fans of the restaurant chain to the core. Travis Reinking, who police say killed four people and wounded several others at the restaurant at 3571 Murfreesboro Pike, was arrested Monday after a 34-hour manhunt. All the victims were in their 20s.
The tragic event thrust the chain into the spotlight and has reminded people of the memories they hold dear at the eatery.
Founded in Avondale Estates, Georgia, by friends and neighbors Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner — both men died last year in their late 90s — the duo only planned to open one restaurant that served “good food fast” with top-notch service. But customers wanted more.
Business grew steadily and they opened the second unit in 1957. By the end of the 1970s, Waffle House had 401 restaurants and the chain was officially cemented in the Southern dining scene.
Today, Waffle House has more than 2,100 stores in 25 states and each restaurant is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The restaurants serve cops, celebrities, families on road trips, college students and everyone in between.
If you’re a regular, you’re probably well versed in the Waffle House language and know if you prefer hash browns scattered (spread across the grill to get crispy), smothered (in sautéed onions) and covered (in melted American cheese), or any other of endless combinations.
The hash browns are so popular the chain claims to serve 238 orders every single minute. The privately held company doesn’t release sales figures, but it will tell you how many waffles it’s sold (one billion, as of 2015).
People feel at home at Waffle House because not much has changed in the last 63 years. It serves the same no-frills breakfast fare, it only started accepting credit cards in 2006, and the goal is to get your food on the table in 20 minutes. It prides itself on Southern hospitality and the know-your-name kind of service that customers love.
And Waffle House is reliable. The Federal Emergency Management Agency even uses the chain as a barometer to determine the severity of a natural disaster. If the restaurants are closed, it means the area was hit particularly hard.
For these reasons, Waffle House lends itself to countless pop culture references.
Celebrity Chefs Sean Brock and Anthony Bourdain dined at the eatery for Bourdain’s very first time in 2015 on an episode of CNN’s “Parts Unknown.” Bourdain’s takeaway: Waffle House is an “irony-free zone where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.”
The restaurant is featured prominently in the movie “Tin Cup” with Kevin Costner; Hootie & The Blowfish titled their 2000 album “Scattered, Smothered and Covered” to honor the chain; and Kim Kardashian broke the Internet in 2015 when she posted a photo from Waffle House with husband Kanye West and friends John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.
Reach Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-7265948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.