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Waffle House's Magic Marker System

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Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#101

Post by TheGRS »

I can't help thinking its simultaneously ingenious and hilariously convoluted. Looks like it would be fast to setup, easy to read from the line cook area, and also simple to modify. I'm sure if I was doing the work I could learn the system pretty quickly, but glancing over it as an outsider all I can think about it how ridiculous it sounds that an upright jam packet over a mustard packet means 3 eggs.

And they use what they have, these places always need pickles and jam packets, whereas a real magic marker can dry up and you might forget to order replacement. Fascinating for sure.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#102

Post by signal_space »

serf wrote: post #94
PopAlongKid wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never lived near a Waffle House, but did eat lunch at one in Mobile AL about ten years ago. I found nothing particularly unique about it.

> I found nothing particularly unique about it. it's cheap, it has a basic menu that covers most dietary requirements, it's understaffed by design, and it's open 24/7. I live in LA -- there is a distinct lack of 24/7 shit even here. I wish we had waffle house simply because i'm sick of Dennys and Norm's being the only 24/7 choice to wander into if I don't want to drive my ass to Canters'.

the counter?

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#103

Post by 0x457 »

sp332 wrote: post #52
jiveturkey wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I first saw this at McDonald's. Drink lids (everywhere) have those little bubbles that can be pressed to indicate what type of drink as well. Diet, Sprite, etc.

Sure but aren't those all the same price?

Those are used to tell the difference between drinks within the same order: diet coke vs regular coke for example.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#104

Post by galdosdi »

lastofthemojito wrote: post #63
PopAlongKid wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never lived near a Waffle House, but did eat lunch at one in Mobile AL about ten years ago. I found nothing particularly unique about it.

I think it's the affordable, approachable 24/7 always-welcome aspect more than the food. People have fond memories of going to Waffle House after partying, or going with their tween friends as the only place they could afford to go out to eat, or going after softball games in their still-dirty uniforms. Another commenter mentioned that Anthony Bourdain said Waffle House was better than The French Laundry (while eatin…

> in (just about) any state you like.

In any state but a northern one. Sadly, there are none in the northeast. Waffle House to me borders between being an "american" thing and specifically a "southern" thing

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#105

Post by tivert »

TheGRS wrote: post #101

I can't help thinking its simultaneously ingenious and hilariously convoluted. Looks like it would be fast to setup, easy to read from the line cook area, and also simple to modify. I'm sure if I was doing the work I could learn the system pretty quickly, but glancing over it as an outsider all I can think about it how ridiculous it sounds that an upright jam packet over a mustard packet means 3 eggs. And they use wh…

> I can't help thinking its simultaneously ingenious and hilariously convoluted.

It's just ingenious, they're coding the order onto the customer's plate by partially setting it up. They're getting some of the work done, and they don't have to fumble with some separate source of truth.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#106

Post by Kon-Peki »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #65
js2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anthony Bourdain, upon visiting his first Waffle House, remarked "This is better than the French Laundry": https://youtu.be/bct8stbZafI?si=ru9hL8xH_a_75J5I

Yes, but it isn't.

Bourdain’s show was about traveling the world, eating cheap food with the local common man.

He was good enough to cook in the kitchen at French Laundry and rich enough to eat in their dining room as often as he wanted. But he was very much anti food snobbery.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#107

Post by stouset »

TheGRS wrote: post #96
stouset wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but no. What we consider "kebabs" are skewers with grilled meat and/or veggies on them. I'm guessing you mean döner kebab. We do have shawarma which is similar, but I've never seen somewhere that really nails the kind of döner kebab I had in Europe.

Think this is catching on slowly, give it another 10 years or so we will probably have something like that everywhere. America is pretty good at adopting popular food vehicles.

I will be so happy if this happens.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#108

Post by jdeisenberg »

rvba wrote: post #85
wannacboatmovie wrote: post #4

Eating at a Waffle House (preferably at 1am following a night out) is a unique American cultural experience that especially those confined to the Bay Area have been denied. It's a place where those from all walks of life come together.

Does USA have places that sell kebab?

There are a few outposts of The Kebab Shop (https://thekebabshop.com/locations/), and here in San Jose California area there are a lot of Mediterranean restaurants selling shwarma.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#109

Post by jvm___ »

TheGRS wrote: post #101

I can't help thinking its simultaneously ingenious and hilariously convoluted. Looks like it would be fast to setup, easy to read from the line cook area, and also simple to modify. I'm sure if I was doing the work I could learn the system pretty quickly, but glancing over it as an outsider all I can think about it how ridiculous it sounds that an upright jam packet over a mustard packet means 3 eggs. And they use wh…

Also there's nothing to transfer and lose, assuming you don't drop the plate, any built plate just continues until it's complete, no messy papers to move and try to keep associated with what plates. The waiter bringing the order to the table can QA it and pick the right plates.

It's kind of genius.

Re: Waffle House's Magic Marker System

#110

Post by gretch »

Doesn't this encoding scheme seem extremely brittle to errors during operation?

Like for example, you put the jelly pack at 12 o'clock, and then if someone rotates the plate, now it's at 6 o'clock and you have the wrong meat for the order.

Or, someone simply bumps into the plate and the packet slides to the other side. Even if you bumped it and it did not slide, you could not verify that it did not slide.

My general take away here is that someone tried to invent a new language basically (pictographic). And english (pen/paper) was probably sufficient? Inventing new languages (and having everyone learn them) is extremely hard.

Edit: btw, I've eaten at waffle house several times, although it was 10+ years ago when I was regular. They did frequently get my order wrong by forgetting things. I don't think it was attributable to this encoding scheme (one time the waiter tried to memorize the whole order and simply failed)

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