Joe Rogers, Sr.

Joseph Wilson Rogers (November 30, 1919 – March 3, 2017) was an American businessman. He was co-founder and former CEO of the Waffle House franchise restaurant chain, which began business in 1955 in Georgia, and has grown to over 2,100 locations in 25 states.

Early years Born in 1919 in Jackson, Tennessee, he grew up there at 291 W. Deaderick Street, and graduated from Jackson High School in 1938. During World War II Rogers served in the United States Army Air Corps as a B-24 pilot reaching the rank of captain.

Rogers started in the restaurant business as a short-order cook in 1947, at the Toddle House in New Haven, Connecticut. By 1949, he had become a regional manager with the now-defunct Memphis-based restaurant chain, and moved to Atlanta. There he met Tom Forkner, whom he bought a house from in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates.

Forkner pressed Rogers to go into business together for a quick-service, sit-down restaurant in Avondale.

Waffle House

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

After opening a fourth restaurant in 1960, the company began franchising its restaurants

Personal life He was married to Ruth Jolley Rogers for 74 years, and she survived him. They had four children, two girls and two boys, and their eldest son, Joe Rogers Jr. became CEO of Waffle House in 1973.