Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Waffle House Made My Wildest Dreams Come True!

I just got home from the most amazing night at Waffle House! We took the whole family up there to check out a rumor we'd heard that they were passing out something with mine and Mavis' picture on it. At first I thought maybe it was some sort of local promotion. I would never have guessed what the real story was!

Here's the deal: this week is Waffle House's 55th Anniversary. As part of the celebration, they have created a pin for all their employees to wear and given them a few extra to hand out to their favorite customers. Here's a pic of the card that the pin comes attached to:


I had no idea this was going to happen! About a year ago, I went to the Waffle House website and signed up for the Waffle House Regulars Club. There is a section of the site where they feature stories from other regulars. They had a place where you can enter your own Waffle House story and submit a photo. I decided to share my story and uploaded the photo of Mavis and myself. I really haven't thought about it since then.

Now, the story is up on their website. If you refresh the home page, a different regular shows up every time and eventually our picture comes up (or you can follow this link to go directly there).

While we were at Waffle House tonight, we tried to recreate the photo:

We also tried the new Apple Cinnamon Oat waffle and I have to say, it is quite delicious. Hannah actually said it was the best thing that she's ever had at Waffle House.

So, now that you know the whole story, go to your nearest Waffle House as soon as possible and ask for a 55th Anniversay pin before they run out! If you pick one up, leave a comment below and let me know where you got it - I'd love to hear where people are able to find them!

UPDATE:
I called Waffle House corporate headquarters on Thursday to get some more information about the 55th Anniversary pin. I was transferred to Catherine in community relations. I started to introduce myself but she stopped my by saying, "I know who you are - I just read your blog." I replied, "Well, I guess you know what I'm calling about." We got to talk for several minutes about how the pin came to be. She said that they always try to use real pictures of real people and employees for their promotions. She had pulled our picture from the Waffle House Regulars and decided to use it for the pin. I let her know that I was excited they had chosen our picture! They really made the day for this Waffle House fan!

I found out that they created 40 pins for each of the 1600 Waffle Houses in America (about 64,000 total!). Catherine said they send me some extra pins so now I'm waiting for the postman to drop those off any day now! I was curious if they had used the picture in any other promotions and found out that they used it on the Annual Report this year! Unfortunately, they couldn't send me one of those because they are classified internal documents. I guess even Waffle House has to be on the lookout for corporate espionage!

It was great talking with Catherine and she was so helpful. I'm really glad I could find out more details about the pin. Who knew our picture would travel to every Waffle House in the country!

Speaking of pictures, if you liked that shot of Mavis and I, it was part of a family photo shoot we did with Andy Brophy last year. He is an incredibly talented Atlanta-based photographer. If you like ridiculously good photography, check out his blog and follow him on Twitter: @onenineimages. If you don't like ridiculously good photography, maybe this is more your speed.

It's been really fun hearing from people where they have gotten the pins.
So far, I've heard of people getting them in New York, New Bern, NC, Milledgeville, GA and the Atlanta area. I've also heard that people haven't been able to get them in Tifton, GA and Athens, GA. I can only guess that the pins were sent out at different times and not all restaurants received them on the same day. Since this weekend is the official anniversary, I would assume everyone should have them by now!
Let me know if you've been able to get one and where you found it!