Nation’s Restaurant News: Waffle House Founder Dies

The founder of the 24-hour Waffle House chain died Friday at age 97, according to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News article.

“My father genuinely loved every customer who walked into a Waffle House, and customers immediately understood that,” said Rogers’ son, Joe Rogers Jr., chairman of Norcross, Ga.-based Waffle House Inc., said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

In 1955, the Tennessee native opened the first restaurant in Avondale Estates, Ga., with his partner Tony Forkner. Forkner was in the real estate business and had sold Rogers his home before they became partners. The two were known to spend time together at the Norcross headquarters all the way into their late 80s.

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