The unspoken story of Waffle House: training in action
By Darrell L. Browning
They’ve been around since 1955 and now operate some 1,500 stores in 25 states. Waffle House is part of American culture–and a little-known success story when it comes to successful business communication. One of our principals discovered a Waffle House in Covington, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, that clearly exhibits how Waffle House never gets your order wrong–and nary a word is spoken in doing so.
Unspoken communication is vastly underrated. To show how effective it is, just visit any Waffle House. In the first place, every Waffle House is comprised of mostly open space–you can see everything– including your food being prepared. No barriers here; no walls and seats at the counter are highly-prized. This open communication is more than style. It is deliberate and warmly received by Waffle House customers. Waffle Houses are open 24 hours per day and serve breakfast–and anything else–anytime.
But back to that Waffle House in Kentucky. No tables were available but a few seats at the counter opened up. Yes, we heard a few orders being talked about–but most were communicated by using either circular or oval plates accompanied by jelly, mustard, butter and other condiment packs. Let us explain: when a Waffle House meal is ordered it is confirmed by the order taker with another person who then sets up the order by choosing the type of plate it will be served upon. Oval plates are for breakfasts; circular plates are for entrees and sandwiches.
Then the magic begins. Mustard pack face up? Pork Chop. Face Down? Ham. Mayo pack down? Chicken. Catsup pack face up? Sirloin. But let’s not forget those jelly packs: if they appear at the top of the oval plate it indicates a ham omelette. If the jelly pack is placed on the bottom it means make a bacon omelette, and so on. Other jelly packs indicate eggs over easy or scrambled. Just a glance from the chef confirms the order and which plate gets what on the service line.
One additional ingredient Waffle House uses is training. The order system is easy to learn, very effective and accurate. There is a way of doing things at the Waffle House that has remained unchanged since, well, the 1950s. And like the breakfast we had, that’s a good thing. Point is, you don’t have to be a college graduate to communicate effectively. The employees at that Kentucky Waffle House prove that every day, and everyone could learn from them.
For more information see http://www.browninglafrankie.com.
©BrowningLaFrankie 2009
Darrell L. Browning
http://www.articlesbase.com/training-articles/the-secret-of-waffle-house-training-in-action-744630.html
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