{"id":10854,"date":"2017-03-06T23:50:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T07:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/waffle-house-co-founder-joe-rogers-sr-dies-at-97\/"},"modified":"2017-03-06T23:50:38","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T07:50:38","slug":"waffle-house-co-founder-joe-rogers-sr-dies-at-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/waffle-house-co-founder-joe-rogers-sr-dies-at-97\/","title":{"rendered":"Waffle House Co-Founder Joe Rogers Sr. Dies At 97"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Doreen McCallister<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Waffle House founders Joe Rogers Sr., left, and Tom Forkner, pose in front of a Waffle House restaurant in Norcross, Ga., after eating lunch there 2005.<\/p>\n

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RIC FELD\/ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n

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RIC FELD\/ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n

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Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner opened their first Waffle House in Avondale Estates, Ga., on Labor Day in 1955.<\/p>\n

Rogers died on Friday at the age of 97. Forkner is 99 years old.<\/p>\n

When the two met, Rogers worked for the Toddle House restaurant chain and Forkner worked in real estate.<\/p>\n

Forkner was the businessman in the partnership that produced the all-night diner chain, and Rogers was the people person \u2014 a champion for customers and employees.<\/p>\n

The yellow Waffle House sign has become a familiar landmark along roadways in the Southeast.<\/p>\n

Rogers was often heard to say, “We’re not in the restaurant business, we’re in the people business.”<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n

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“Rogers and Forkner phased themselves out of the day-to-day operations in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n

“They still spent time at the corporate headquarters in Norcross even in their mid-80s.<\/p>\n

“Rogers went in up until a few years ago.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There are now 1,900 restaurants in the chain and approximately 40,000 employees.<\/p>\n

Joe Rogers Jr. said in a statement, “They never envisioned the financial success shared by so many of their associates 61 years later.”<\/p>\n