{"id":72733,"date":"2023-02-09T23:05:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T23:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/09\/how-two-wwii-veterans-built-waffle-house-into-an-empire\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:09:13","slug":"how-two-wwii-veterans-built-waffle-house-into-an-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2023\/02\/09\/how-two-wwii-veterans-built-waffle-house-into-an-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"How two WWII veterans built Waffle House into an empire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nary a soul has been stationed at a military base or made it through four years of college without stumbling one drunk Saturday night into the 24-hour greasy spoon chain known lovingly as \u201cWaffle House.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With more than 2,000 locations across 25 states, it\u2019s safe to say that the humble breakfast haunt is really more of an empire than a mom-and-pop shop. But it wasn\u2019t always that way. The first Waffle House was actually opened by two veteran neighbors in the small town of Avondale Estates, Georgia, in 1955.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTom Forkner joined the military and served in military intelligence and security based out of Oak Ridge, TN,\u201d according to Njeri Boss, Waffle House\u2019s vice president of public relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drafted into the Army in 1941, he covertly worked to transport valuable products from a \u201cTennessee facility to Los Alamos,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahf.nuclearmuseum.org\/ahf\/profile\/tom-forkner\/\" target=\"_blank\">Atomic Heritage Foundation<\/a>. He eventually was sent to work on the infamous Manhattan Project, where he served until heading home and taking his place with his family\u2019s real estate business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His eventual partner, Joe Rogers Sr., enlisted with the Army Air Corps at age 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe bulk of his service was in the Army Air Corps where he trained to fly BT-9s, B-29s, AT-17s and B-24s,\u201d Boss said. \u201cWhen his military service ended in 1945, I believe he was a B-24 pilot instructor with the Eighth Air Force at Smyrna Airfield. He achieved the rank of at least Captain during his service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pair met in 1949 when Rogers moved to Georgia. Wanting to do something different and create an environment where friends and family could come together and eat, they opened a 24-hour diner-style joint in their Atlanta suburb and painted the sign bright yellow to attract the eyes of drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its reputation for being the best place for late-night food and overall popularity led Forkner and Rogers to begin franchising Waffle House in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while the times have changed greatly since that first greasy spoon opened in the 1950s, much of the Waffle House aesthetic and menu has stayed the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe serve the basic foods, and the basic foods never change,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna8927443#.WQdsG1PytE4\" target=\"_blank\">Rogers told NBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alas, the iconic restaurateurs both passed away in 2017, but their waffle legacy lives on in the hearts of troops in dire need of hash browns and syrup boats after a night of barracks shenanigans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Waffle House, an off-post staple, was actually started by two military 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