Waffle House's System For Getting Your Order Right Relies On A Ketchup Packet - The Daily Meal (2024)

FAQs

How does Waffle House keep up with orders? ›

The position and orientation of each item indicates what was ordered and how it should be prepared. For instance, a jelly packet placed vertically at the bottom of a plate means the customer wants scrambled eggs. The same packet, placed at the top of the plate, means the eggs should be cooked sunny-side up.

The code, called a "marking system," helps staff remember each order without having to write things down or shout out confusing lingo. The code involves placing condiments, utensils, and food items at certain spots and angles on the plate; each placement corresponds to a specific menu item.

For example, a plate with a jelly pack at the bottom means the customer ordered scrambled eggs. Flipping the jelly upside down means the customer ordered white toast, while a container of apple butter means raisin toast.

Waffle House remains a privately held company today — Rogers's son, Joe Rogers Jr., is now the chairman — and does not disclose annual sales figures, but in 2005 the company claimed that it uses two percent of all eggs produced in the U.S.

The Waffle House Index is an informal measure of a storm's severity and its effect on a stricken community. It comes from Waffle House's reputation for being well-prepared for disasters and either remaining open during disastrous weather or reopening shortly afterward.

They never close. They run 24 hours a day," then-FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told the New York Times in 2012. "They have a corporate philosophy that if there is a hurricane or a storm, they try and get their stores open. It don't matter if they don't have power, it don't matter if you don't have gas.

After the video blew up, the creator shared her Waffle House order, which is a Bacon Texas Cheesesteak Melt with two waffles in place of the Texas toast.

The rules are simple: stay at a Waffle House for 24 hours and for each waffle you eat, one hour is deducted off of the total time.

The color-coded index is simple: If the local Waffle House is serving a full menu, it's green. If the restaurant has no power, but is still open and serving a limited, grill-only menu, it's yellow. Red means the restaurant is closed, a "really bad" sign, according to Fugate.

What does plate mean at Waffle House? ›

Waffle House's grill operators are instructed to strategically place condiments or ingredients (jelly packets, butter packets, bits of shredded potato, etc.) on each plate as the order is called. The placement indicates what was ordered and how it should be prepared.

According to data sourced from Comparably, the median salary for a Waffle House franchise owner currently stands at $136,517 annually.

Forkner suggested naming the restaurant "Waffle House", as waffles were the most profitable item on the 16-item menu. Rogers continued to work with Toddle House, and to avoid conflict of interest, sold his interest to Forkner in 1956.

Scattered: The cook will spread the hash browns across the grill to get them ultra-crispy (otherwise they're grilled in a steel ring and served more patty-style). Smothered: If you're interested in aromatics, you'll ask for onions to be sautéed alongside your hash browns.

Waffle House is not changing its policy that has servers keeping their own gratuities, as it would be "crazy to go down the road of service charges instead of tips," said Rogers, who also discarded the idea of pooling tips.

Christmas is the busiest day of the year at Waffle House, Molina told me. It is one of the only restaurants open, she explained. Others speculated that the restaurant was full of visiting families looking for space from their relatives, but most of the people I met were locals.

For Booth, who worked the night shift for most of the four years she was at Waffle House, there was a simple answer to the question. It comes down to a toxic combination of 24/7 opening hours and alcohol. “People get impulsive at night. That's when you party, that's when you drink,” she says.

Once they are cool enough to handle, store them so they remain safe to eat. Any waffles left out for more than 2 hours could have unsafe bacteria on it, so throw them out instead. Bacteria spreads on any food under 140 °F (60 °C). Quick storage prevents bacteria from forming, keeping your waffles safe for another day.