About

Waffle House is an American diner-styled 24/7 restaurant chain with locations mainly in the southern United States. The restaurant has become an American cultural staple, and several memes about the chain have emerged from its popularity. In particular, Waffle House has a reputation for being a potentially dangerous place after several stories about brawls and violent altercations at Waffle House went viral.

History

Waffle House was founded by Joe Rogers and Tom Forkner on September 5th, 1955, with its first restaurant located in Avondale Estates, Georgia.^[1] Rogers had previous experience working for Toddle House, which was a similar 24/7 restaurant chain.

Online Presence

Waffle House has gained notoriety for it being a place where fights often occur, and several viral videos centered around fights at Waffle House have appeared online in the 2010s.^[2] This has resulted in several jokes and memes about the volatility of Waffle House online (shown below).

Controversies

#BoycottWaffleHouse

#BoycottWaffleHouse is a hashtag used to catalog a series of allegations of racism made towards the Waffle House restaurant chain in the late 2010s. Following several high-profile incidents in which the police were called on black customers, many called for a boycott of the restaurant chain until the company changes its policies.

Waffle House Prom Attendee Police Brutality Video

Waffle House Prom Attendee Police Brutality Video refers to the public reaction to a viral video of a man named Anthony Wall who was aggressively restrained by a police officer at a Waffle House in North Carolina. Wall, who had escorted his younger sister to prom earlier in the evening, was still in his formal wear during the incident.

On May 8th, 2018, Anthony Wall posted a video on Facebook of himself being accosted by a police officer in the parking lot of a Waffle House in Warsaw, North Carolina. Wall, who had taken his younger sister to prom earlier in the evening, was still wearing his prom outfit in the video. He captioned the video, "This have to stop please help by share reporting to ever news report u know please." The post (shown below) received more than 3,800 reactions, 39,000 shares and 1 million views.

Chikesia Clemons Arrest

On April 22nd, 25-year-old Chikesia Clemons was arrested at a Waffle House, following a dispute over plastic cutlery. During the arrest, Clemons was wrestled the ground, exposing her breasts in the process. Officials claimed that Clemons was intoxicated at the time of arrest.

Waffle House Shooting

Waffle House Shooting was a mass shooting that occurred at a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, Tennessee. A total of four people were killed and another four were injured. The suspected gunman was identified as 29-year-old Travis Reinking and was stopped by James Shaw Jr., a Waffle House patron, who tackled Reinking and wrestled the weapon away from him. Reinking fled on foot. He was arrested the following day.

Related Memes

Waffle House Index

The Waffle House Index is a metric used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to determine the effect of a disaster based on the number of open Waffle House restaurants. Coined by former FEMA director Craig Fugate, the scale follows an informal rule that, as Fugate stated, "If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That's really bad."

In May 2011, following the Joplin tornado, then-FEMA head Craig Fugate coined the scale based on the two Waffle House restaurants still open. The chain has a reputation for remaining open 24-hours a day even during extreme weather. Occasionally, they remain open with a limited menu.

Based on this, FEMA determined this informal index based on three color-coded levels:

GREEN: full menu – restaurant has power and damage is limited or no damage at all.
YELLOW: limited menu – no power or only power from a generator, or food supplies may be low.
RED: the restaurant is closed – indicating severe damage or severe flooding.

Waffle House Wendy / Waffle House Chair Catch

Waffle House Wendy also known as the Waffle House Chair Catch, refers to a viral video of a Waffle House waitress and cook named Halie who caught a chair that was thrown at her by a customer during a fight. After the 2021 fight video spread on Twitter and TikTok in December 2022, Halie was also nicknamed the Waffle House Chair Girl, the Waffle House Avenger and The Last Chairbender due to her impressive reflexes. Lots of fan art and memes were made about her going into early 2023.

Search Interest

External References