WAFFLEHOUSE
2017 Interview
Pat Warner: Waffle House Vice-President of Culture
Speaker 1:
Okay. I just found out he is here. He just had to step away for a minute. If you can give me just a minute I will get you over to him, okay?
Brian:
Great. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:
All right.
Pat:
Hello, this is Pat.
Brian:
Hi, Pat. This is Brian Ambroziak with the University of Tennessee.
Pat:
Hi, Brian. How are you doing today?
Brian:
I'm doing great.
Pat:
[crosstalk 00:02:49] yet?
Brian:
What's that?
Pat:
Have you all falled out of there yet?
Brian:
Somewhat. Well, I'm wondering if this is a good time to speak for a little bit?
Pat:
Yeah, yeah. Sure.
Brian:
The other thing I wanted to ask you, I have this recording software that I'm trying out today and I just wanted to make sure that it's okay with you if I record the conversation so I'm not having to take notes.
Pat:
Yeah, that's fine.
Brian:
That's fine? Okay. Again, none of these questions will be too pressing and you saw in the email I'm doing a little bit of research on issues of culture and ritual. Specifically how they pertain to the Japanese tea ceremony. I think there's an amazing opportunity, terms of looking at Waffle House, in terms of it's regional meaning and how it represents something in this country similar to what the tea ceremony has traditionally represented in Japan.
Pat:
Right. I'm not as familiar with the tea ceremony. Other than what's on Wikipedia.
Brian:
If I can ask you a couple questions then specific. I've listed out six brief questions. I imagine what might happen today is I'll have many more questions as soon as I get off the phone. Maybe there will be a second call at some point.
Pat:
Yeah, that's fine.
Brian:
The first thing, your title, which I saw on the website, is vice president of culture. My first question would be can you describe what you see as the culture of Waffle House? What that term means to you?
Pat:
Well, for us, that term is very broad. The Waffle House culture is one of those things. We know it when we see it but it's kind of hard to define it. Mainly because everybody has their own individual ties to the culture, whether you're an associate that works with us or a customer. Really my role is to help define what the culture is and also make sure we are true to the culture as we move forward.
I get the question all the time, "What is the Waffle House culture?" Not to glib or anything, it's really in the eyes of the beholder. Really, for us, for the folks who work at Waffle House, [inaudible 00:05:17] clearly defined. We kind of know who we are as a company. We're a 24 hour restaurant. We're there to serve people. Our management lead from the front. They're in the restaurants every day. They're working elbow to elbow with the associates. We're a one class system. We have first names on our name tags.
Our CEO might be standing next to Bob the grill operator and the customers wouldn't know that Walt is the CEO because he's wearing the same uniform and he's given a name tag. He's probably doing the same job. He might be on the grill cooking. That is our internal culture.
Our external culture, to our customers, is a lot of different things. It kind of boils down to that Waffle House experience. We feel like we're actually in the experience business. The food is the commodity. It's mainly the way our restaurants are set up. They're small restaurants. You're basically eating in the kitchen. It's not like other restaurants where the wait staff comes and takes your order and then they go in the back and the food is prepared and it's kind of a Wizard of Oz thing where you're not really sure what's going on back there but then your food comes out.
For us, it's a much different experience. You're sitting there, you're watching your food made, you hear the wait staff call out the order. They don't punch in the computer, they call it out. Our cooks cook it. All that happens in front of you. Another thing is the close proximity our associates are with their customers. In a bigger restaurant, like I said, the wait staff comes to take your order, then they go off, and sometimes you have to flag them down, you might not see them.
For us, the wait staff and the cook are all, sometimes, within arm's reach. They're right there. That leads to that experience. The experience is different for different people. You have the late night experience, you have the work day experience, you have the family experience on the weekend. Really, our culture is building those bonds between our customers and our associates. For our array of customers that's what it's really about. They come in every day to see their favorite waitress or see their favorite cook or their favorite [inaudible 00:07:30] or the manager. They build those personal relationships up.
Like we said, the food is the currency. Also, sometimes between customers we have great stories. Each restaurant has it's own personality. Each restaurant will have that group of customers that meet every whatever day for breakfast to talk about whatever. It could be a club, it could be just folks hanging out just talking. You have those coming through our door. We feel like we're the conduit for all these experiences.
That's really what our restaurants are set up to be. We have 1800 restaurants in 25 states. Yet, we're comfortable with each restaurant having it's own personality. Yeah, they're all going to look the same, they're all going to have the same menu and a lot of the same systems but after that it really gets down to those relationships between the customers and the associates, and the relationships between the management and the associates, and the relationship between the associates and the company. That's kind of a long wandering answer but that's what our culture is.
Brian:
No, no, that actually answers one of my questions too and the next question was sort of like what are the customs inherent to the Waffle House experience, which you answered. The one that I see that's the most obvious is the wait staff calling in orders, which again you sort of talked about. One of the issues I would think with Waffle House is that you said each one has it's own identity but at a certain point the Waffle House has been around for so long that the people working there grew up in Waffle House. It's sort of they grow into an identity that's preexisting.
I guess one of my questions is can culture be created? Are you looking for new ways or is there something that's nostalgic about the breakfast experience or what it is to have a meal that you think you're basically playing upon? Or is there something quintessentially American about what you're offering?
Pat:
Well, [inaudible 00:09:25] first part of your question about the culture being created I personally think when companies try to create a culture it backfires. Our culture has been created and evolved over 61 years. You're right. We do have a lot of folks who have eaten with us and they've come to work with us. Now we have, since we've been around 61 years, we have families that have multiple generations of people who work at Waffle House. Their grandad worked there, their mom worked there, now they're working there. We have a lot of those great stories now that we are 61 years old as a company.
We think that feeds into the culture. I think if you try to pre-plan your culture and force it upon people I don't think it works. However, you need to have what's our purpose as a company? What's our basic principles as a company? We've set those that allowed our culture to evolve around that. If that makes sense. It's not really saying, "This is what our culture is." We've basically said, "These are our basic principles. This is the purpose of the company. This is what we're going to strive for" and the culture is created around that.
We really think that cultures evolve. Our culture has evolved at Waffle House on both sides of the counter. We're not the same restaurant we were in 1955. We're not the same restaurant we were really back in the year 2000. We have evolved our culture.
Brian:
Can you give specifics in terms of a meal in 1955 at Waffle House? How it would be different in terms of if the food is the commodity so it's still eggs and bacon and you're still in the same proximity to the person cooking your meal [crosstalk 00:11:00] Go ahead.
Pat:
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Brian:
What are the specifics? How does that eating experience evolve?
Pat:
I think the eating experience is probably pretty close to what it was back for our customers. I think we have redone our first restaurant to try to make it look like it was back in 1955. We actually stopped operating it and it went through some other hands. In 2008 we bought the property back and restored it into a museum and we tried to make it look like 1955. The first thing people see when they come in is like, "Wow, it kind of looks like today's Waffle House." You've got a counter, you've got a grill, you've got some [inaudible 00:11:42]
I think the eating experience probably is pretty close to the way it was in 1955. Obviously on the other side of the counter, probably on the company side I think that's where the culture has evolved a lot more because the work force changes throughout the years. There's different things. Some examples, we started offering healthcare to all our associates back in 1984. All of our associate staff has healthcare and vacation time because we thought that was very important to us as not just the management needs healthcare. We thought our waitresses and waiters and cooks need healthcare too. It's not just the management. We started offering that back in 1984. Things like that we have done to put our people first I think has evolved our culture.
One of the things we're working at now is our restaurant manager lifestyle. That's always a big thing for us. For our management and our associates, mainly for the manager, because when you're running a 24 hour restaurant, and all our restaurants are 24 hours, they never close, it has a lot of different opportunities that can infringe upon the manager's time. Especially on their off hours. Something can happen. That's a conscious push for us right now to get that so it's not all about the work. It's work/life balance. We're doing some things now and we're evolving our culture that way.
I would think customers obviously throw out hairstyles and clothes of the day. I think if you just boil it down to the dining experience of coming in and ordering bacon, eggs, and a waffle. There will be some subtle differences in the way we prepare the food maybe because technology is different. Waffle makers have evolved. I know that sounds funny but they have.
Brian:
No, but I understand. I think there's a whole other layer of what it is to be part of this kind of family or the culture and owning stock in the company and it goes beyond the 30 minute encounter to something that [inaudible 00:13:55] career.
Pat:
Really what we talk about a lot to our management team all the way through their career is your number one job is to take care of your associates. If you take care of them they're going to take care of the customers. That's really our culture and our philosophy in a nutshell and a lot of the systems and things we do as a company is facilitated to take care of our front line folks because at the end of the day they're the ones that are meeting the customers out there. We have 1800 restaurants that are open right now. I'm sitting at a desk in Norcross. The waitress at the one restaurant has a lot more impact on our brand than I do sitting here because they are out there doing it.
Brian:
That's a question I have then about the franchise. Last night I was at one and one of the waitresses made a comment about the franchise, about the structure. Are they independently-owned?
Pat:
We have a combination. Knoxville has franchise restaurants in the east Tennessee area. We have 1800 restaurants and maybe north of 400, under 500 are franchised.
Brian:
Then how do you control the brand? It wouldn't make sense to step outside what works?
Pat:
Well, the great thing, especially in east Tennessee, that franchise was one of our first franchisees. They have had multiple generations of leadership running Waffle House restaurants. We work with our franchisees. Actually, it's a policy we have that to be a franchisor for Waffle House you have had to either work for the company, a subsidiary franchise, and have obtained a multi-unit level position before you can even be considered.
We feel it's really important that our management, whether it's a company-run restaurant, a subsidiary-run restaurant, or a franchise-run restaurant they're out there with the customers every day. That's big on the company side. In our restaurants it's also big in our franchise world too. The pull of franchisees is coming from people who have successfully run the Waffle House business somewhere else. They're not just buying a franchise and at the end of the month getting a check.
Brian:
They know how it works.
Pat:
In the business. We really impress upon that. Fortunately for us we have some great franchisees. You all have a great one up in east Tennessee. I'm trying to think. Golly, I think they were our ... I have to look. I think that area was our second franchise. That franchise goes back to the early 1960s.
Brian:
Yes, I think looking at the architecture of Waffle House it's a brilliant ... In every level. I tend to over-analyze thing. The [inaudible 00:17:00] of the glass even. The way in which you watch the waitresses idealize what's going on inside when you stand out in the parking lot. There's a lot that goes on that prevents Waffle House from deviating from certain things that they do, which I think is quite magical.
Another question I have then in terms of this evolution or the culture is who do you see as the primary customer? Do you keep track of repeat business or do you aspire to bring in a different customer base?
Pat:
Well, for us the 24 hour restaurant scenario ... What we like to say is each individual restaurant is really three restaurants in one. You have during the work week you have the people coming in for breakfast or lunch that are working. Both blue and white collar. That's the great thing about Waffle House. We feel like everybody comes to eat with us.
During the week you'll see folks who are basically going to come from work, having lunch or breakfast with us. The weekends you see the families in there. That's more of a family restaurant. The Thursday, Friday, Saturday night that's the people that ... That's the University of Tennessee students in there. The great dynamic is all three of those groups come to the same place but they rarely see each other.
For us, when we say, "Who is our customer?" Each restaurant really has those three cycles they go through each week of being the work week, breakfast lunch destination for folks. There are a lot of meetings done in Waffle House booths. It's amazing to see people in there eating and having a lunch meeting at a Waffle House. That's going on during the week. Thursday, Friday, Saturday night you see the folks coming in after the clubs close. Then you have the late night crowd. That's a totally different group. Then you have the families predominantly on the weekends.
It's those three groups. We kind of track it a little bit back here at the office but really we know we have a lot of regular customers. Really, that is our goal to get new customers into the restaurant and get those connections and then turn them into regular customers. That's really our way of doing things. We rarely advertise. We're more word of mouth. Social media we've kind of embraced that because we feel like that's just an extension of word of mouth. Getting out those Waffle House stories. We've embraced social media and we have a push on it.
Really, our brand has been built through the years of people coming in and having a great experience. I've talked to different marketing classes about Waffle House and one of the things I'll do is I'll throw out company's catch phrases and they'll finish it. You know, "Like a good neighbor" and everybody says, "State Farm is there". I say, "Give me a break, give me a break." Everybody says, "Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar." I go, "Scattered, Smothered" and they all go, "Covered". I go, "How did you learn ours versus how did you learn theirs?" They finally get to it and it's like, "We learned theirs because they pay a lot of money in advertising to get that message to us. We learned Scattered, Smothered, and Covered from eating at Waffle House."
For us, that experiential marketing is so much more valuable. That's really what has grown our brand is for people to experience Waffle House. This goes back to what I was talking about earlier. People experience Waffle House versus hearing an ad on the radio and then the catchy jingle gets in your head and you can't forget it. If you experience something it means a lot more to you. As we really look to grow the business that's kind of our model is we feel like when we get folks in and they get those relationships they will become a regular customer.
I tell folks a lot that here in Atlanta sometimes I will stumble into somebody who is a transplant. They don't know Waffle House because they didn't grow up with it. I give them the Waffle House one week challenge. I say, "Go to the same Waffle House every day one week" and by the fourth day they're going ... By the third day, they'll probably know your name and by the fourth day they're going to know your order. That's how people build that bond with Waffle House with that experience.
Brian:
Yes, for myself, new to the experience I feel like an outsider based on when you sit at the bar and you realize what you're saying. Like everyone who comes in, last night I learned four or five different life stories in terms of what kids are doing. It's pretty amazing.
Pat:
Yes, and those bonds are very powerful between our associates and customers. Christmas Day is actually our busiest day of the year. I love being out in the restaurants on Christmas Day because you see ... This past year, I see it every year, you see the customers coming in. They want to sit in the section of their favorite waitress. They had brought gifts. Typically, the waitress goes in the back room and they have gifts for them. You don't see that everywhere. We have that in 1800 locations.
1800 locations today, we'll have somebody walk in the door and if they don't know what their meal is they already have their meal cooking by the time they sit down. Invariably, every restaurant has those customers. We're fortunate enough that we have set up the way our restaurants run for our associates to build those relationships. It's a two way street. Our associates love those relationships and the customers love those relationships too. We have stories where customers don't show up in a day and our associates are calling their house to make sure they're okay.
That happens all the time too. Those bonds are very powerful for us and really that's what has built our brand over 61 years. Like I say, we've got some great, smart folks back here in the marketing department but really it's what goes on in the restaurants.
Brian:
Right. I have one last question actually to some it up. On your menu it says that the Waffle House experience is good food, good values, friendly and reliable. The first three are sort of no-brainers. Food, value, and the environment. The fourth one, reliable, which doesn't sound like a restaurant experience what is ... That sort of seems like the car that you've just bought. How is a restaurant reliable? How does that fit into the culture?
Pat:
For us, that word means a lot of different things. We want to be reliable. One, we're a 24 hour restaurant. We want to be there for you so we're going to be reliable. We're going to be there. You may eat breakfast with us but, oh by the way, you might be coming home late one night. We're going to be there for you.
We're reliable in the way we deliver your food over 1800 restaurants. We really strive, whether you're in Knoxville, Atlanta, or Phoenix the waffle is going to taste the same. The chili is going to taste the same. We have those. We're reliable there for people who travel and have multiple Waffle House experiences.
We want to be reliable for our associates. We want to be there for them. We want to be reliable to them as a place that we're not going anywhere, we're going to be there for them, and then help them attain what they need to do. In a lot of our restaurants we have what we call dream boards in the back room and we encourage our associates, "What's your dream?" Is it going on an Alaskan vacation? Is it put your kids through college? Is it for you to get through college degree?
We want them to put their dreams up on the board in the back room and then we kind of say, "Okay, how can we help you achieve those dreams?" We're not going to be Oprah and come out and give trips and stuff. We can say, "Okay, well, let's work hard and put money back to buy that car." Or, what are you doing? We try to help them achieve their dreams. I think that's reliable to our associates.
We use that word because it means so much to us in many different ways. It's not just one way. We want to be reliable in all those aspects of the business and in our customer's lives. Not through any planning, we have gotten a reputation for being there right after major storms. Opening up quickly and being there. That's just something we've done. We've gotten some attention from FEMA, national media, and things like that about the Waffle House index. Really, it all started from wanting to be there.
Mainly because after a major storm if a Waffle House is closed our associates aren't making any money. After a storm when the businesses are closed the people that work there don't make any money. We almost feel like it's a responsibility that we need to do everything we can to open up quickly after a storm so our folks, especially after a hurricane or a tornado, they've gone through a life changing event and we want to be reliable for them.
On the flip side, if we're open then the community takes a breath and realizes that we're coming back to a sense of normalcy. That's a whole other element of reliability that we kind of have gotten known for. Again, it wasn't planned that way. It's just the way we do business. We feel like we need to be reliable for our folks and our customers. That's one example of it going to a different level and now there's a Waffle House index out there.
Brian:
Yes, that's amazing.
Pat:
Yeah, that's what reliable means to us.
Brian:
Great. I think that this conversation exceeded my expectations on many levels. Again, [crosstalk 00:27:14] so quickly and set up this interview exceeded my expectations. I appreciate your time. Anything, I would be more than happy to forward to you as this thing evolves into whether it's published papers or to send it to you even to make sure that there's nothing incorrect in terms of what I'm putting out there. I appreciate your time. I can very much imagine that a month from now if we could set aside another 15 minutes or so I might have some followup questions.
Pat:
Yeah, that's fine. You've got my email, don't you? Just reach out to me. We can set something up.
Brian:
I absolutely will. I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
Pat:
All right. Great. Good luck.
Brian:
Take care. Bye bye