Waffle House Founders Die Less Than 2 Months Apart

[MULTIZ321]

Waffle House Founders Die Less Than 2 Months Apart
By Doreen McCallister/ The Two-Way:Breaking News from NPR/ National Public Radio/ America/ npr.org

"In 1949, Thomas Forkner Sr. was in the real estate business when he helped Joe Rogers Sr. buy a house.

Rogers was working for the Toddle House restaurant chain and he convinced Forkner to join him in starting their own restaurant.

The two opened the first 24-hour Waffle House on Labor Day in 1955 in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates.

By the time they sold the business in the late 1970s, the chain had grown to 400 restaurants.

The Atlanta-based company that owns the chain now has more than 1,500 locations...."

Waffle House founders Joe Rogers (center) and Tom Forkner (right) greet longtime customer John Webb as they stop for a meal at a Waffle House restaurant in Norcross, Ga., in 2005.

Ric Feld/AP
If memory serves, several Tuggers are Waffle House fans.


Richard

 

[Talent312]

RIP, guys.

Not a fan, eggsactly. But I dine there occasionally.
Anthony Bourdain seemed to like it...

"It is indeed marvelous— an irony-free zone where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts; where everybody regardless of race, creed, color or degree of inebriation is welcomed."

.

 

[WalnutBaron]

I lived for a number of years in the South and that's when I discovered Waffle House. It's anything but fine dining, but the quality is consistent, it's (usually) clean, and every once in awhile, you realize you were there for the experience as much as to get your belly filled. One Friday night after a high school football game, I was in a Waffle House in Stone Mountain, Georgia with my two oldest sons. In the middle of our meal, an entire wedding party of about a dozen people--including the minister--walked in. We assumed they were there for a post-wedding reception celebration of some sort, as tables were getting moved around a bit and things were made ready for this large group. But no! The minister got up on a chair and announced to all present, "We would like to invite all of you present to join us in celebration of the marriage of Tom and Emily and to serve as witnesses to this joyous occasion". One of the groomsmen whipped out a harmonica and began playing "Here Comes The Bride" and the ceremony began. In the meantime, new customers began lining up but didn't dare go inside for fear of interrupting the proceedings, so a line began to form outside, which also drew the attention of passersby such that--by the time the ceremony concluded about twenty minutes later--there was a crowd about three deep at the windows outside the building. When the minister proclaimed "You may now kiss the bride", the entire crowd erupted in applause. Then the groom announced, "It's a long story, but Emily and I were reunited about three weeks ago after losing touch with each other for more than ten years. I proposed to her about six hours ago and we're leaving on our honeymoon to Hawaii in about six hours from now. We're having our wedding reception right here, and you're our guests. So order whatever you want, and let's get to know each other." The crowd erupted again, and my sons and I ended up staying until about 2 am. The wedding cake turned out to be four pecan waffles stacked on each other, and the best man toasted the newlyweds with a glass of Coke. It was one of the great days of our lives, and we still talk about it.

 

[rfc0001]

I lived for a number of years in the South and that's when I discovered Waffle House. It's anything but fine dining, but the quality is consistent, it's (usually) clean, and every once in awhile, you realize you were there for the experience as much as to get your belly filled. One Friday night after a high school football game, I was in a Waffle House in Stone Mountain, Georgia with my two oldest sons. In the middle of our meal, an entire wedding party of about a dozen people--including the minister--walked in. We assumed they were there for a post-wedding reception celebration of some sort, as tables were getting moved around a bit and things were made ready for this large group. But no! The minister got up on a chair and announced to all present, "We would like to invite all of you present to join us in celebration of the marriage of Tom and Emily and to serve as witnesses to this joyous occasion". One of the groomsmen whipped out a harmonica and began playing "Here Comes The Bride" and the ceremony began. In the meantime, new customers began lining up but didn't dare go inside for fear of interrupting the proceedings, so a line began to form outside, which also drew the attention of passersby such that--by the time the ceremony concluded about twenty minutes later--there was a crowd about three deep at the windows outside the building. When the minister proclaimed "You may now kiss the bride", the entire crowd erupted in applause. Then the groom announced, "It's a long story, but Emily and I were reunited about three weeks ago after losing touch with each other for more than ten years. I proposed to her about six hours ago and we're leaving on our honeymoon to Hawaii in about six hours from now. We're having our wedding reception right here, and you're our guests. So order whatever you want, and let's get to know each other." The crowd erupted again, and my sons and I ended up staying until about 2 am. The wedding cake turned out to be four pecan waffles stacked on each other, and the best man toasted the newlyweds with a glass of Coke. It was one of the great days of our lives, and we still talk about it.

That is an awesome story! Thanks for sharing .

 

[Sugarcubesea]

I

I lived for a number of years in the South and that's when I discovered Waffle House. It's anything but fine dining, but the quality is consistent, it's (usually) clean, and every once in awhile, you realize you were there for the experience as much as to get your belly filled. One Friday night after a high school football game, I was in a Waffle House in Stone Mountain, Georgia with my two oldest sons. In the middle of our meal, an entire wedding party of about a dozen people--including the minister--walked in. We assumed they were there for a post-wedding reception celebration of some sort, as tables were getting moved around a bit and things were made ready for this large group. But no! The minister got up on a chair and announced to all present, "We would like to invite all of you present to join us in celebration of the marriage of Tom and Emily and to serve as witnesses to this joyous occasion". One of the groomsmen whipped out a harmonica and began playing "Here Comes The Bride" and the ceremony began. In the meantime, new customers began lining up but didn't dare go inside for fear of interrupting the proceedings, so a line began to form outside, which also drew the attention of passersby such that--by the time the ceremony concluded about twenty minutes later--there was a crowd about three deep at the windows outside the building. When the minister proclaimed "You may now kiss the bride", the entire crowd erupted in applause. Then the groom announced, "It's a long story, but Emily and I were reunited about three weeks ago after losing touch with each other for more than ten years. I proposed to her about six hours ago and we're leaving on our honeymoon to Hawaii in about six hours from now. We're having our wedding reception right here, and you're our guests. So order whatever you want, and let's get to know each other." The crowd erupted again, and my sons and I ended up staying until about 2 am. The wedding cake turned out to be four pecan waffles stacked on each other, and the best man toasted the newlyweds with a glass of Coke. It was one of the great days of our lives, and we still talk about it.

I lived in Tucker GA for about 5 years and loved the Waffle House for the sense of family that I always got when I went in to eat there. I was fresh out of college when I got moved to Tucker by my new company and loved it there...Great story, WalnutBaron, and what a great memory.

 

[Patri]

Waffle House is better than Toddle House.

 

[Patri]

Waffle House is better than Toddle House.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

If you like Waffle House hash browns, you can get them at Costco. They are the Golden Griddle dehydrated hash browns. Add hot water, let them rehydrate for about 12 minutes, and they're ready for cooking. We enjoy them regularly. I'm also quite familiar with the dehydration process - the company that produces them is a long-standing client.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

There is also a quasi-official Waffle House disaster index:

The Waffle House Index is an informal metric used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to determine the effect of a storm and the likely scale of assistance required for disaster recovery.[1]The measure is based on the reputation of the Waffle House restaurant chain for staying open during extreme weather and for reopening quickly, albeit sometimes with a limited menu, after very severe weather events such as tornadoes or hurricanes. The term was coined by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in May 2011, following the 2011 Joplin tornado; the two Waffle House restaurants in Joplin remained open after the EF5 multiple-vortex tornado struck the city on May 22.[2][3] According to Fugate, "If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That's really bad. That's when you go to work."[4]

The index has three levels, based on the extent of operations and service at the restaurant following a storm:[4][5]

• Green: the restaurant is serving a full menu, indicating the restaurant has power and damage is limited.
• Yellow: the restaurant is serving a limited menu, indicating there may be no power or only power from a generator or food supplies may be low.
• Red: the restaurant is closed, indicating severe damage.

Professor Panos Kouvelis of Olin Business School says Waffle House, along with other chains, such as Home Depot, Walmart, and Lowe's, which do a significant proportion of their business in the southern US where there is a frequent risk of hurricanes, demonstrates the benefit of good risk management and disaster preparedness. Because the restaurants have a disaster plan and a cut-down menu prepared for times when there is no power or limited supplies, the Waffle House Index rarely reaches the red level.[2][4]

The Waffle House Index sits alongside more formal measures of wind, rainfall, and other weather information, such as the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale, which are used to indicate the intensity of a storm.[4]

On Thursday October 6th 2016, the index reached red when all Waffle House restaurants on Florida's I-95 between Titusville and Fort Pierce were closed. This was caused by Hurricane Matthew ravaging Caribbean islands and the east coast of the United States.[6]

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

RIP, guys.

Not a fan, eggsactly. But I dine there occasionally.
Anthony Bourdain seemed to like it...

"It is indeed marvelous— an irony-free zone where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts; where everybody regardless of race, creed, color or degree of inebriation is welcomed."

.

Video clip of Anthony Bourdain visiting Waffle House.

 

[rfc0001]

If you like Waffle House hash browns, you can get them at Costco. They are the Golden Griddle dehydrated hash browns. Add hot water, let them rehydrate for about 12 minutes, and they're ready for cooking. We enjoy them regularly. I'm also quite familiar with the dehydration process - the company that produces them is a long-standing client.

Those are yummy! We buy them all the time .

 

[WalnutBaron]

Those are yummy! We buy them all the time .

Sadly, they are not available out here on the Left Coast. Guess I'll keep eating my weeds and seeds--very California-ish.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Sadly, they are not available out here on the Left Coast. Guess I'll keep eating my weeds and seeds--very California-ish.

They are stocked at the Washington stores. Today is May Day, and it is evident that here in Seattle we qualify as Left Coast. Check with your local Costco store to see if they ever stock it. Or to put in a request.
In Washington Safeway stores carry them as well - in the grocery stores they are sold under the "Hungry Jack" label. It's the identical product Same half pint size packaging as in Costco. But sold by the individual unit instead of in bulk packaging.

 

[MuranoJo]

They are stocked at the Washington stores. Today is May Day, and it is evident that here in Seattle we qualify as Left Coast. Check with your local Costco store to see if they ever stock it. Or to put in a request.
In Washington Safeway stores carry them as well - in the grocery stores they are sold under the "Hungry Jack" label. It's the identical product Same half pint size packaging as in Costco. But sold by the individual unit instead of in bulk packaging.

Reminds me of another post. Here in ID we don't qualify as the Left Coast, nor any coast. As long as Oregon and WA are still attached to our Western side.
And here's a song which may foresee when we truly will be the left coast.

 

[rfc0001]

Sadly, they are not available out here on the Left Coast. Guess I'll keep eating my weeds and seeds--very California-ish.

Sounds delicious