Waffle House

Waffle House opened its first location on Labor Day weekend, September 5, 1955, at 2719 East College Avenue in Avondale Estates, Georgia. Joe Rogers Sr. had spent years working at Toddle House, starting as a short-order cook in New Haven, Connecticut in 1947 before becoming a regional manager for the Memphis-based chain. He met Tom Forkner while buying a house from him in Avondale Estates. Forkner was a real estate broker, a lawyer, and a World War II intelligence officer who had worked on the Manhattan Project. The two became neighbors and friends, and Rogers convinced Forkner to join him in starting their own restaurant. The original menu listed only 16 items, and the restaurant stayed open 24 hours a day from day one.

By the late 1970s, when the founders sold the business, the chain had grown to 400 locations. Both founders passed away in 2017 within two months of each other. Rogers died on March 3 at age 97, and Forkner followed on April 26 at age 98. Leadership passed to Joe Rogers Jr., the son of co-founder Joe Rogers Sr., who continued the company's expansion. Walt Ehmer joined the company nearly thirty years ago and became CEO in 2012, taking over from Rogers Jr. The company remains private and 100 percent employee-owned, with no outside investors or plans for an IPO.

Waffle House operates over 2,021 locations across 25 U.S. states as of April 2025, with the bulk concentrated in the Midwest and the South. In Georgia alone there are over 400 Waffle Houses, with more than 200 in the Atlanta metro area. The chain serves approximately 160 million customers per year. Unlike many competitors, Waffle House has not expanded to the Northeast, California, or the West Coast. CEO Walt Ehmer has said, "where we are, we're everywhere." The chain strategically opened stores along interstates to attract truckers and travelers, competing with McDonald's, Burger King, and Cracker Barrel for the same customers.

Waffle House's brand identity is built around its iconic yellow sign and "shoebox" building design, which first appeared at the seventh location in East Point, Georgia. The chain grew primarily through word-of-mouth, spending little on marketing. The founders were so secretive they had a policy of never sharing information with the press. Waffle House was among the first restaurants in Atlanta to serve Black customers. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., while many Atlanta businesses closed out of fear, Waffle House stayed open. Co-founder Rogers was later thanked by Black leaders for that decision. The chain also developed the "Waffle House Index," an informal indicator of the severity of natural disasters given its reputation for staying open through difficult circumstances. [edit]