The Casual Sit-Down Chain You Won't Believe Has Its Own Record Label

Music and food go together like springtime and flowers. While a fine-dining restaurant might have a the soundtrack of a string quartet playing, a Mexican restaurant could feature a mariachi band, whereas your favorite roadhouse might have loud rock and roll blaring over the speakers. Not to mention that plenty of social events include dinner and dancing, like weddings or graduations. While these pairings seem common enough, it's unusual for a restaurant to have a record label producing custom songs, but that's exactly what Waffle House has been doing for years.

Waffle Records dates back to the 1980s. Dozens of songs have been recorded for play on Waffle House jukeboxes while you enjoy the chain's many waffles. While they are not all exactly about Waffle House, they definitely fit the theme. Song titles include "There Are Raisins in My Toast," "Grill Operator," and "Bert," a pop punk song about a girl who's been eating bowls of Bert's Chili at Waffle House behind her boyfriend's back. In the digital age you don't even need to go to a Waffle House location to hear them since the songs are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Conceived by Waffle House co-founder Joe Rogers Sr. in 1984, Waffle Records continues to produces original songs every year, though usually only a couple. They are available to play on jukeboxes, alongside music by established artists. The chain even has its own music awards, the Tunies, and hands them out to the most popular artists played on jukeboxes over the course of a year. Imagine Dragons and Chris Stapleton received an award during the inaugural year.

Waffle House's influence on music is very real. Hootie & The Blowfish named a 2000 cover album "Scattered, Smothered and Covered," in honor of the various ways to order Waffle House hash browns. The album cover also featured a picture of a Waffle House. Sturgill Simpson and Stephen Colbert wrote a Waffle House song together in 2016 that dives into the mistakes you need to avoid while eating there. The Jonas Brothers recorded "Waffle House," and Lana Del Rey was even seen working at one briefly.

According to volt.fm, "There Are Raisins in My Toast" is the most popular Waffle Records original, followed by "Grill Operator," and "844,739 Ways to Eat a Hamburger." The songs are lighthearted and goofy but they were never meant to sound like commercials. In fact, Waffle House co-founder Joe Rogers Sr. wouldn't allow them to sound too promotional or they'd be rejected.

Despite the fact that Waffle Records has been going strong for decades, the songs are not particularly popular. In some locations they won't even crack the top 100 most played songs. Waffle House estimated in 2016 that originals accounted for about 1% of all played songs the previous year. Because there's no real endgame tied to the songs, they're not recorded to be chart toppers or to bring in some kind of income or fans, the company is happy with the performance. Much like learning how to order your hash browns like a pro, the songs are a little accent that make the Waffle House experience what it is.