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Tag: Waffle House

  • Waffle House servers are getting a raise — to $3 an hour

    Waffle House servers are getting a raise — to $3 an hour

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    Waffle House CEO Joe Rogers III says the restaurant chain is making its “single largest additional investment in our workforce” in its 68-year history by hiking base pay for servers to three bucks an hour. 

    The raises take effect this month and follow a more than year-long campaign led by a union that represents service workers in the South. The effort involved strikes and petitions calling for higher pay, safer working conditions and an end to mandatory paycheck deductions for meals.  

    Waffle House’s base pay — excluding tips — will increase to at least $5.25 an hour for all of the company’s 2,000 locations by June 2026, with additional increases based on seniority and shifts, Rogers said in a video to employees. 

    Many restaurants around the U.S. offer what is known as the “tipped minimum wage.” Under labor law, they can offer as little as $2.13 an hour if that amount combined with tips at least matches the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, where it has stood since 2009.

    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. 

    Rogers also said Waffle House will seek to offset the additional labor costs by raising its menu prices, noting that patrons at the chain’s urban locations would be among those charged more. 

    The company has not unveiled any actions to respond to workers’ other concerns, including safety, particularly at locations that are open 24/7 and have been known to draw disorderly patrons. 

    In April. a brawl at a Waffle House near Ohio State University’s campus led to a shooting that killed one man, while in February an early morning shooting at a Waffle House in Indianapolis killed one person and wounded five more. 


    1 killed, 5 wounded in shooting at Waffle House in Indianapolis, police say

    00:22

    Waggle House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Privately held Waffle House operates about 2,000 locations, including hundreds in Georgia, where the company is based. 

    Some states have moved to lift the pay of restaurant workers, who are more likely to live in poverty than employees in other fields. In April, for example, the minimum wage for most fast-food workers in California rose to $20 per hour, the highest base across the U.S. restaurant industry.

    Prior to the California pay hike, the highest paid fast-food workers in the U.S. were in Washington State, which has a minimum wage of $16.28 per hour.

    Kate Gibson

    Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York, where she covers business and consumer finance.

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  • Tekken director apparently keeps getting requests to add a Waffle House stage

    Tekken director apparently keeps getting requests to add a Waffle House stage

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    Waffle House is one of those uniquely American institutions-turned-meme. The 24/7 chain is not only a place where you can order a breakfast combo at 3AM, but where unruly customers have been known to show up ready to throw hands (and sometimes chairs). Given its notoriety for late-night brawls, it’s exactly the type of setting that would make for a perfect backdrop in a fighting game like Tekken 8 — and apparently, fans have been inquiring. Longtime Tekken director posted on X this weekend asking what the deal is with all the Waffle House requests.

    Obviously, the question was posed in the days before April Fools’ Day, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there turned out to be some jest baked into it all. But now that we’re having the conversation…

    “Ok, I will only ask once about this request,” Harada posted. “Why do some communities send me requests for ‘Waffle House’? Please be sure to explain the basis for the request, including the original story, history and background. I look forward to an explanation from someone who knows more.”

    Harada followed it up with another thanking everyone who explained it and saying he understands, but went on to say, “The restaurant has both the trademark and the rights to the restaurant, so if the restaurant chain’s headquarters refuses to accept my proposal, it will not happen.” Waffle House now has an opportunity to do something pretty funny here.

    But that shouldn’t come before Waffle House adequately addresses the concerns of its employees, some of whom have been about low wages and a . Employees from some locations are on strike, and the has put together a petition demanding Waffle House implement changes to improve working conditions. Until that’s resolved, any collaboration with the fighting game would just be in poor taste.

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    Cheyenne MacDonald

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  • What is Hurricane Idalia’s Waffle House index?

    What is Hurricane Idalia’s Waffle House index?

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    Welcome to the Waffle House


    Welcome to the Waffle House

    03:55

    There are a few ways to gauge the expected severity of a hurricane, but one of the more unusual is by the Waffle House index. If Waffle House locations in the path of a hurricane are open, that’s a sign there is limited damage from the storm. If locations are closed — which is the case for some in Florida due to Hurricane Idalia — then conditions are unsafe.

    The Waffle House index uses a green, yellow and red rating to measure how bad storms are: green means the full menu is being served and there is little storm damage; yellow means there is a limited menu because they are likely using a generator for power or they are low on supplies; red means the restaurant is closed because the storm is severe. 

    As of midday Wednesday, 15 Waffle House locations were without power – but some were in the yellow zone of the index, because they were open and operating with generators, a representative for the chain told CBS News via email. At least five locations were in the red zone of the index, because they were in the direct path of Idalia after it made landfall. Two others in St. Petersburg were closed due to storm surge.

    Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall Wednesday on Florida’s Gulf Coast, brought “catastrophic” storm surge and “damaging” winds to the area, the National Hurricane Center said. It was briefly a Category 4 storm before weakening to a Category 3.

    Many of the 1,600 Waffle House locations are in hurricane-prone areas on the East and Gulf Coasts. Waffle House strives to be open when people are desperate – and the chain has proven to be reliable after devastating hurricanes. 

    “I hadn’t had a hot meal in two days, and I knew they’d be open,” Waffle House customer Nicole Gainey told the Wall Street Journal after Hurricane Irene devastated North Carolina in 2017. Despite the storm knocking out power, a local Waffle House in Weldon stayed open – a beacon of hope for people like Gainey.

    Caitlin O’Kane


    caitlin-okane.jpg

    Caitlin O’Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.

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  • Lana Del Rey Spotted Working Shift At Alabama Waffle House

    Lana Del Rey Spotted Working Shift At Alabama Waffle House

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    American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey was recently spotted wearing a uniform and working a shift at a Waffle House in Alabama for reasons still unknown. What do you think?

    “A true multi-hyphenate.”

    Kelly Hamlin, Greeting Card Consultant

    Federal Reserve Calls For More Poverty

    “Well, I’m sure she has some perfectly offensive reason for it.”

    Chris Tubbs, Unemployed

    “Maybe one day she’ll be successful enough to wait tables full time.”

    Alex Davari, Livestock Manager

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  • Waffle House closures along Florida coast are ominous storm sign

    Waffle House closures along Florida coast are ominous storm sign

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    Nearly two dozen Waffle House restaurants are closed across Florida, unsettling for those who view the always-open chain as an informal gauge of just how bad some natural disaster might get. 

    With Hurricane Ian bearing down on the state, the 24-hour restaurant chain currently has 21 restaurants closed from Bradenton to Naples, a spokesperson on Wednesday told CBS MoneyWatch in an email. “Those restaurants are located in the direct path of the storm, with a few located in low-lying, flood-prone areas,” she stated. 

    “We continue to monitor weather conditions, work closely with local government officials, emergency management teams and our local leadership in the field to make appropriate decisions based on the circumstances in each location,” the spokesperson added. 

    Waffle House has more than 1,900 locations in 25 states. 


    What is storm surge? Explaining one of a hurricane’s greatest dangers

    02:47

    Federal emergency officials warn that Hurricane Ian could bring life-threatening storm surge, heavy rain and winds. It made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida, on Wednesday as a major Category 4 storm — the second-strongest possible category, according to the National Hurricane Center.

    Known for its practice of rapidly reopening after disaster hits, or remaining open to feed first responders amid such events, Waffle House is also eyed as a means of assessing damage to an area.

    “We’re pretty proud of the fact that it is something that is used,” a Waffle House spokesperson told a local CBS affiliate of the brand being seen as an indicator of a storm’s severity. “More so because it is an outward showing of our commitment to the communities we serve.”

    As Craig Fugate, the former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in the past explained: “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad. That’s where you go to work.”

    The so-called Waffle House index ranges from green to yellow to red, depending on whether restaurants are open, closed, or offering a limited menu. 

    “If Waffle House can serve a full menu, they’ve likely got power (or are running a generator). A limited menu means an area may not have running water or electricity, but there’s gas for the stove to make bacon, eggs and coffee: exactly what hungry, weary people need,” according to a 2017 FEMA blog post. 

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