Northlake Foods Inc history

The culture was sufficiently distinct that the area became known around town as "Garlic Gulch." By 1910 Seattle's population (237,174) included 3,454 residents of Italian extraction -- and they no doubt appreciated every new Italian-oriented grocery shop, bakery, and cafe that opened.

Public interest in the then-exotic food steadily increased from that point, and in 1945 a basic recipe for do-it-yourself homemade pizza was first published in Gourmet magazine.

The Palace remained a popular spot -- even more so after 1948 when, reportedly, the Daversos introduced pizza to Seattle.

Eldon Hayes was elected the first Mayor in 1949.

Then on April 4, 1950, Ricardo's Spaghetti Bar held a "Grand Opening" -- and began hyping its pizza as being the "First in Seattle!" -- "New Yorkers are raving over this Italian favorite.

In July 1951 the Maine Sardine Industry bought ad space in The Seattle Times to promote its notion of a great pizza recipe: Maine Sardine Pizza.

A few months later in September 1952 the Times published a pizza recipe submitted by a reader, which had won an "Honorable Mention" in a recipe contest.

In January 1953 Seattle Times food columnist Dorothy Neighbors published her bleak recipe for "American Pizza," and then in March another, uncredited, recipe for "Imitation Pizza," which, naturally, included English Muffins as the base.

The first Waffle House opened on Labor Day weekend in 1955 at 2719 East College Avenue in Avondale Estates, Georgia.

Rogers continued to work with Toddle House, and to avoid conflict of interest, sold his interest to Forkner in 1956.

In October 1957 Pete Utter opened his first Pizza Pete shop at 1411 NE 42nd Street in the University District.

Sanitary sewers were installed, a three-million gallon water reservoir was erected, and High School District 212 built the West Leyden High School campus on Wolf Road in 1958.

Daverso’s ad, Aqua Follies program, 1959

In 1960, when Rogers asked to buy into Toddle House, and they refused, he moved back to Atlanta and rejoined Waffle House, now a chain of three restaurants, to run restaurant operations.

In 1963 they relocated to Renton at 8824 Renton Avenue S, and from there the family enterprise expanded steadily with additional restaurants in Burien, Federal Way, and Seattle neighborhoods including Pioneer Square, Queen Anne, Lake City, and the University District.

The oldest "Waffle House" entity listed with the Corporations office of the Indiana Secretary of State is "Waffle House of Bloomington, Indiana, Inc." established in 1967, and like Waffle House Greenwood, it is still an active corporation.

Then around 1969 the shop moved across the street to 4231 University Way NE.

That latter establishment moved to 4135 University Way NE in 1971, with Nat Flathers opening Oogie Boogie Pizza at the 719 E Pike Street spot.

By 1974 it was touting its product as "Best Darn Pizza Anywhere" and had grafted "Pizza House" onto its name.

Co-founded in 1979 by the Centioli siblings with an initial location at 4529 University Avenue NE, Pagliacci grew into a remarkable success story with 15 Seattle locations and more in Edmonds, Bellevue, Kirkland, Kenmore, and Mercer Island.

Reportedly, the original Indiana Waffle House chain has started using the name "Sunshine Cafe". However, the d/b/a for "Sunshine Cafe" belongs to "Waffle House Greenwood Inc.", established in 1981.

Jeffrey T. Sherwin, the present Mayor, was voted into office in 1997.

In 2005, the Waffle and Steak restaurants all adopted the "Waffle House" moniker, bringing the entire chain under the iconic name.

In 2008, one of the biggest Waffle House franchises in the southeast, North Lake Foods, was bought out by Waffle House, Inc.

In early 2009, East Coast Waffles bought North Lake Foods to become a new franchise.

In 2012 Waffle House donated $100,000 to American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove.

The founders limit their involvement in management, and as of 2013 , Joe Rogers Jr. was CEO and retired late 2013, and Bert Thornton is president.

The founders of the Waffle House brand died in 2017 within two months of each other: Joe Rogers Sr. died on March 3 and Tom Forkner on April 26.

On October 29, 2018, a rapper known as Young Greatness was shot to death outside a Waffle House in New Orleans.