Waffle House Pop Culture Icon Essay Example For Students

Waffle House: Pop Culture Icon Essay Waffle House: Pop Culture IconWaffle House remains cemented in pop culture as a place where one can enjoy a meal with friends at any hour. This image of a fun, all night hangout has recently been tarnished by multiple allegations of racism on the part of both customers and employees. Our group feels the best way to combat this negative association between the restaurant and discrimination would be for Waffle House to become positively involved in charities to support historically African American communities. By releasing more information and keeping an open relationship with the media, Waffle House will be able to more effectively contest negative publicity. Waffle House was founded in Avondale Estates, Georgia in 1955 by Joe Rogers, Sr. and Tom Forkner. Waffle House had humble beginnings in a small house in a local neighborhood. The founders simply wanted a place to dine with friends and enjoy the company of others. Rogers and Forkner gradually built their dynasty by adding a resta urant here and there as they had the money, someone to run it, and a great location, (Waffle House, 2005). The basic premise of this southern restaurant, devoted to pancakes crispier cousin, was simple southern cooking and keeping overhead low (Hoovers, 2005). The restaurant chain embodies the spirit and culture of the1950s from the simple cash only payment policies down to the jukebox full of old time favorites found within every restaurant. The chain has altered its decorum and menu offerings minimally since it first opened in 1955. Waffle House has gained its fame for being open twenty-four hours a day and three hundred sixty- five days a year, regardless of bad weather or national holidays. Waffle House has a few simple mottos according to its founders, including wanting a restaurant for our friends to come in and eat and visit with us, (Waffle House, 2005). Other mission statement includes quality food and quality conversation at reasonable prices along with treating workers like family. Founder, Joe Rogers Sr., described Waffle Houses manta as personalized, friendly service. To accomplish this, employees follow simple rules such as to win friends, be one, and a smile makes the food taste better, (Waffle House, 2005). Rogers once compared the typical Waffle House customer to the old cartoon character Dagwood Bumstead. The co-founder then went on to describe the customer as someone who has been kicked out of his house, and hes looking for someone to be kind to him, (Osinski, 2004). Furthermore, Rogers says Waffle House has positioned itself, not only an all-night establishment serving quality food at low prices, but also as a friend to those customers who need one. Waffle Houses job, Rogers notes, is to make people feel better because they ate with us, (Osinski, 2004)Waffle House has quickly become a pop culture icon despite the companys lack of significant public relations campaigns. The corporation uses little advertising and releases few details about its operations to the public. Despite the companys poor public relations efforts, Waffle House has been featured on Rosie ODonnell Show, the cover of Hootie The Blowfishs album, the movies Tin Cup and Crossroads, and was featured in the R;B group 112s music video. Countless celebrities and public figures such as Faith Hill, Former President George Bush, Reese Witherspoon, Jay-Z, and Billy Bob Thorton have eaten at Waffle House restaurants. Another facet of the Waffle Houses unique appeal is that it serves as a meeting place for a very diverse clientele. Rogers said On any given day, you can have a bank president sitting beside a ditch digger, (Osinski, 2004). Part of the charm of Waffle House restaurants is this mystery of who could be dining there any time you enter its doors. The atmosphere at the around the clock Waffle House restaurants differentiates it from other competitors such as Dennys or Shoneys. Waffle House is the number two family-style restaurant chain in the United States, behind Dennys (Hoovers, 2005). Also, Waffle House ranked in the top five Around the Clock Eats on the Food Network (Waffle House, 2005). The company has nearly 1,400 of its 1950s style diners that they own or franchise in 25 predominately southern states (Hoovers, 2005). Of the 1,400 restaurants, Waffle House owns 675 of the locations and franchises the remaining restaurants. Waffle Houses key competitors are Dennys, Huddle House, Shoneys, and IHOP. Waffle House is a privately owned corporation that is not forced to, and does not, release significant financial details to the public. The corporation saw a sales growth of 1.4% with $415 million in sales in 2004. Also, Waffle House has 30,000 employees working in their various restaurants. The employee growth rate was 145% for 2004. Joe Rogers, Jr. took over as CEO of Waffle House in 1973. With him, Rogers brought rigorous training and an incentive based compensation mentality. Despite recent allegations of racism, Waffle House has historically welcomed all races, even during the years of racial segregation. While many all-white restaurants were experiencing sit-ins during 1961 to protest segregation, Rogers invited protestors into Waffle House (Osinski, 2004). Rogers not only permitted protestors to dine, but welcomed them into his restaurant as well. Before Rogers invitation, no African American had asked to eat at a Waffle House restaurant. In 1968, after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, many stores and restaurants were closing due to race riots. However, Waffle House chose to remain open and serve all customers (Osinski 2004). Rogers said, We havent ever mistreated anybody, so why should we have to go home? (Osinski 2004). African American leaders later thanked Rogers and the Waffle House for remaining open. Over the years, Waffle House has been plagued by the perception of racial and gender discrimination and unfair treatment of employees due to several lawsuits. In 1981, the US Department of Labor sued Waffle House for giving inordinately low wages to managers who also served as cooks. When Waffle House won its case in 1983, it became extremely tight lipped, and didnt readily share information with outside sources (Hoovers, 2005). In 1997, Waffle House was ordered by a federal judge to pay $8.1 million to a former human resources employee who charged the company of sexual harassment and egregious conduct, (Hoovers, 2005). The year 2000, brought yet another lawsuit to the chain. This race related allegation involved a manager firing black workers to make the employee makeup a more accurate representation of the predominately white community the restaurant served. Even Waffle House franchisees have not been able to escape lawsuits in recent years. The largest Waffle House franchisee, Nor thlake Foods, was hit with a racial discrimination lawsuit in 1999 when a white cook denied service to five African American males. Another franchisee, Treetop Enterprises, was forced to pay $3 million to one hundred twenty-five employees who were made to work eighty hours a week despite being hired for only fifty-three. Of late, the lawsuits against Waffle House have become more numerous, the allegations more serious, and the findings more public than ever before. In recent years, the chain has been hit with a series of lawsuits claiming severe racial discrimination against minorities, primarily African Americans. These allegations have come from largely Southern states, including Alabama, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia and involve the breaking of several civil rights laws (Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2005). Over fifty African-American customers have come forward to describe incidents of blatant racial discrimination. These allegations include workers who announced that they did not have to serve African-American customers, served unsanitary, burned, and fly-infested food to African-Americans, ignored African-Americans while White customers were seated and served in a timely manner, and in general, tossing racial slurs around in a casual manner (Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2005). African-American customers have also been required to pre-pay for food while Caucasian customers were not; they have also endured segregated seating once inside the restaurant (Campbell, 2005). One noteworthy example of racial discrimination occurred in 2003 when an Alabama businessman stopped at a Douglasville, Georgia Waffle House on his way to Atlanta. Enrique Lang and his wife were not seated by employees while Caucasian customers were. Ultimately, the couple was seated at a table that had not been cleared. When Lang asked for the table to be cleaned, a manager recommended that he Go to Churchs Chicken, Leroy (Tierney, 2005). Another incident in Ches apeake, Virginia took place in August 2003. Five patrons, who were in town for a baby shower, were also ignored by restaurant employees, so they sat at a booth and cleaned it themselves. After finally receiving the food they ordered, they noticed that flies were large, black, mixed into the white grits, and obviously visible (Messina, 2005). When the patrons complained, nothing was done about the situation, and employees insisted that they pay for the bill. Because they refused, the police were called and the patrons were accused of attempting to walk out on the bill (Messina, 2005). When a companys reputation and image are blatantly attacked by allegations such as these mentioned, it is the purpose of the public relations group of the organization to salvage this image and reinstate the trust of their customers. The discrimination cases against Waffle House could possibly be very detrimental to the companys established customer base. It is the responsibility of Waffle House public relations to do everything to comfort their customers about the accusations of racial discrimination. Whether or not this has been accomplished is the subject under question. The glass managerie Essay Waffle House is the number two family-style restaurant chain in the United States, behind Dennys (Hoovers, 2005). Also, Waffle House ranked in the top five Around the Clock Eats on the Food Network (Waffle House, 2005). The company has nearly 1,400 of its 1950s style diners that they own or franchise in 25 predominately southern states (Hoovers, 2005). Of the 1,400 restaurants, Waffle .