Very few restaurant chains are both famous and infamous.
Most restaurants simply serve food. They may have a gimmick like Cracker Barrel’s stores or McDonald’s offering toys in its Happy Meals, but they’re just restaurant chains, not cultural touchpoints.
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Applebee’s briefly approached being both famous and infamous with Walkaer Hayes’ 2022 song “Fancy Like,” which contained the following lyrics:
Yeah, we fancy like Applebee’s on a date night (that’s right)
Got that Bourbon Street steak with the Oreo shake (ay)
Get some whipped cream on the top too (gotta add that whipped cream)
Two straws, one check, girl, I got you (girl, I got you)
Bougie like Natty in the styrofoam (styrofoam)
Squeaky-squeakin’ in the truck bed all the way home (all the way home)
With some Alabama-jamma, she my Dixieland delight (hey)
That’s how we do, how we do, fancy like
That’s a bit tongue in cheek as few people really consider Applebee’s fancy, other than country singers looking to show how down-to-earth they are
Another restaurant chain, however, has achieved immortality in multiple Saturday Night Live sketches and a vote of approval from a top historian (and my freshman year college advisor).
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“Without a doubt Waffle House is the best franchise in America,” wrote historian Douglas Brinkley in his book “The Magic Bus.”
Applebee’s got a lot of mileage out of being the subject of a hit song.
Dine Brands
Waffle House is open late
Waffle House is famous for being 24/7 and drawing an interesting clientele because of its late-night hours. The wild antics that can happen there were what Saturday Night Live parodied on multiple occasions.
But if you want to skip the drama, Waffle House now offers late-night delivery in partnership with Dispatch from OLO OLO.
This makes “it easier than ever to enjoy customer favorites like the Classic Waffle, scattered, smothered & covered hashbrowns, and the All-Star Special from the comfort of home. Waffle House launched online ordering and payment for pick-up with Olo in late 2023.”
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The late-night hours are an expansion of that relationship.
“Ordering delivery is simple: guests can visit the Waffle House website or mobile app, enter their location, and place their order from a participating nearby store. Olo Dispatch then finds the best available delivery provider, ensuring hot and fresh meals arrive quickly through a seamless and reliable experience,” the chain shared in a press release.
Waffle House delivery through Olo’s Dispatch is now available at more than 500 of the 2,000 locations across 25 states and will continue to roll out to more locations throughout the year.
Olo has been growing
Olo is a relative upstart in the delivery world where it competes with established leaders Uber Eats and DoorDash. In fact, the company does not even specificaly mention delivery, which it offers under its Dispatch platform, it its bio on its website.
“Olo is a leading restaurant technology provider with ordering, payment, and guest engagement solutions. Over 700 restaurant brands trust Olo and its network of more than 300 integration partners to innovate on behalf of the restaurant community, accelerating technology’s positive impact and creating a world where every restaurant guest feels like a regular,” it shared.
The company reported some strong numbers in its fourth-quarter earnings report.
Total revenue increased 21% year-over-year to $76.1 million.Total platform revenue increased 21% year-over-year to $75.2 million.Gross profit increased 11% year-over-year to $40.3 million, and was 53% of total revenue.
“Team Olo put together a fantastic 2024 that included strong financial performance, new and expansion deployments with marquee restaurant brands, and platform reliability and innovation that powered $29 billion in gross merchandise volume and $2.8 billion in gross payment volume for the year,” said Olo CEO Noah Glass. “We are confident in executing further in 2025, including helping more brands drive profitable traffic through the Olo Guest Data Flywheel, and beginning to penetrate the more than $100 billion in card-present gross payment volume within our existing base through our new Olo Pay partnership with FreedomPay.”
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