The recent COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll not only on human life (4,000 deaths and counting in the U.S.) but also on industries, perhaps most of all, hospitality. Hotels are running at nearly 100% vacancy and furloughing thousands of employees. Restaurants are doing whatever they can to remain in business. Restaurants you would have never thought would be offering takeout (Aria & Umi) are doing so, while others (Arnette's Chop Shop and Bell Street Burritos) have morphed into markets selling grocery and protein items they might have previously offered on their menu.
There are few restaurants more Atlanta than Waffle House and Chick-fil-A. Both chains started in Atlanta - Chick-fil-A in 1967 [first in 1946 as the Dwarf Grill] and Waffle House in 1955 - but while Chick-fil-A is weathering the storm through robust ordering options, Waffle House finds itself in uncharted territory.
A recent Forbes article Crippled By Coronavirus, Waffle House Faces A Harsh Reality: ‘We’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’details the difficult road ahead for the beloved chain. Yes, they are a chain, and yes, plenty of small mom and pop restaurants need our help too, but man, can you imagine an Atlanta... an America... without Waffle House?!
Most of Chick-fil-A's more than 2,400 locations are open, and while the chain has still not added Sunday service, the chain is still operating. That said, Chick-fil-A operators are undoubtedly feeling the pain of the growing COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting decrease in sales, most notably zero on premise dining, but they can perhaps take solace in the fact that their operation is one of the best prepared to serve its customers in other ways. Chick-fil-A is already known for incredibly efficient drive-thrus, but now their robust suite of other purchasing options including mobile ordering via the Chick-fil-A One app and delivery via DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats are further helping them to extend their reach and generate sales.
Most of Chick-fil-A's more than 2,400 locations are open, and while the chain has still not added Sunday service, the chain is still operating. That said, Chick-fil-A operators are undoubtedly feeling the pain of the growing COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting decrease in sales, most notably zero on premise dining, but they can perhaps take solace in the fact that their operation is one of the best prepared to serve its customers in other ways. Chick-fil-A is already known for incredibly efficient drive-thrus, but now their robust suite of other purchasing options including mobile ordering via the Chick-fil-A One app and delivery via DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats are further helping them to extend their reach and generate sales.
Waffle House finds themselves in a completely different situation. Only one of the chain's more than 2,000 locations features a drive-thru (it's in Stone Mountain) and the chain relies heavily on on-premise dining at its restaurants. Waffle House and its 24 hour/365 service are popular post ballgame/concert/bar crawl/event etc. destinations and the limitations on large gatherings and postponement of basically every major sporting event have put a serious dent in their business. Typically, Waffle House generates about $1.3 billion in annual revenue but today, sales across the company are down an average of 70 percent.
Unlike so many of its casual and fast food rivals, Waffle House does not have relationships with any delivery companies and is selling its food exclusively to go and carryout. The chain has already shuttered some 420 locations, it hopes temporarily, and cut hours at some of the restaurants kept open.
In North Buckhead, for instance, the Waffle House at 3735 Roswell Road is for the time being open only from 7AM until 3PM, seven days a week. Other nearby locations like those on Pharr Road at Piedmont Road and Sidney Marcus Boulevard at Piedmont Road are, for now, still open 24/7.
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| The Waffle House Museum during last year's Waffle Day celebration |
To remind would-be diners that they are still open and still serving, many Waffle House restaurants have makeshift signs in the windows announcing they're open, their phone number and their hours. Historically, Waffle House has consistently been one of the few businesses to remain open and or the soonest to reopen in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Waffle House and their ability to remain in or restart operations is often seen as a barometer of business by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after disasters. The chain has weathered tornadoes, hurricanes, and countless other storms and setbacks, but COVID-19 is different. As company Chairman Joe Rogers, Jr. says in his interview with Forbes:
“Any disaster, momentarily, cripples some pieces of the business and we rush in to rescue it. But we have the rest of the system healthy to go do that. There is no healthy portion of this system today. We are burning cash every week.”
Rogers, son of Waffle House co-founder Joe Rogers Sr., has been running the now 65 year-old chain since 1973 and has "never seen anything like this," he told Forbes. For his part, Rogers and other family members have vowed not to take a salary until the crisis is over, but that alone will not save the business. The company has furloughed thousands of hourly employees and while Rogers says he won't be paying them if their restaurants are closed, the company has used its cash reserves to pay furloughed corporate employees.
When you think about it, Waffle House is so much a part of the Zeitgeist of Atlanta that's it's hard to imagine a world without it, but with social distancing extended nationally until April 30, that is exactly what we may have to do.
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| A raving Waffle House fan shows off his Waffle House-ified Mustang |
Yesterday was a nationally advertised and heavily promoted The Great American Takeout (#TheGreatAmericanTakeout), which encouraged diners around the country to order food from their favorite restaurant for delivery or takeout.
Today, we are calling for today and Wednesdays going forward to be #WaffleWednesday and are encouraging those that are financially able, to order food from their local Waffle House to help them weather this catastrophic storm.