I love when a business finds an efficiency that seems crazy. Like Waffle House arranging condiments on the plate instead of using a POS for orders. Then their cooks turn out 4 meals in 3 minutes. What else is like this?
Image from Michael Girdley (@girdley)

Oct 27, 2026 · 1:42 PM UTC

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firehouses do the same thing. boots already stuffed inside the pants, sitting right next to the truck. step in, pull up, go. zero thinking at 3am. honestly the best systems look kinda dumb from the outside 😂
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Or they can just adopt the technology that’s been around for 40 years and get an KVS instead of playing kids games with condiments 🤷‍♂️
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The McDonald brothers’ Speedee System optimized kitchen layout and processes to bring assembly line logic to food prep in the first place. Once deployed at scale, it basically created the fast food system.
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It appears to be something that started as wonderfully simple process/solution that was morphed into an overcomplicated monstrosity. I’ve never seen this in practice at a WH, yet it gets written about a bunch.
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I never had Waffle House on my process example BINGO card but here we are.
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I still love that they are called PoS. And both acronyms are correct.
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Everything aldi does from customers depositing a quarter to use carts (you never see stranded ones) to having barcodes on every side of their branded goods so the cashier never has to spend time looking where to scan
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ikea got millions of people to do their own delivery and assembly and say thanks
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Cheesecake Factory is the grand daddy of restaurant process.
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That’s amazing. When I took over our accounting firm I was surprised how the older staff would get so worked up over the proper naming conventions for how to save a document…and then I came around to realize it mattered a ton
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I can’t tell if this is satire
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Like, probably every single business process in existence? Hah jokes aside though, most business workflows have multiple steps that could easily just be deleted or reworked. Especially with AI solutions
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What else is like this? Any business (or organization) that values continuity…
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Your long-form special was excellent. Thank you for the wonderful deep-dives into America's greats!
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amazon ad management for us. agents run the checks every morning and make changes to reach our average cost of sale targets I read one summary and sometimes click an approve button. thats it
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this is my favorite kind of tech. boring, repetitive work with clear rules. built an app for a coworker that saved him 10 hours a week i wish i could say he started taking fridays off… haha
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Me when I don’t use a Piece Of Scum for orders:
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I just love Waffle House's disaster planning. There's a lot of "the European mind can't comprehend" BS on here, but the thing I find amazing is a fast food chain that puts so much effort into business continuity. They have instruction based around the types of outages.
Image from CodeRecce (@CodeRecce)
Image from CodeRecce (@CodeRecce)
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Wait they have a Bowl of Grits ??
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Who the fuck is getting a job at Waffle House and learning this bastardization of hieroglyphics???
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ALDI. 3 people in a Grocery Store running it while the other Grocery Store down the street has over 20 working in it (1 person employed just to pick up carts). Yes, the product is not as good as high end stores, but I am OK with self checkout and my own bags if I save 30%
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I don't reckon this system is actually great, I think it forces underachievers (line cook or server at waffle house) to actually invest themselves in learning a new thing for the first time since 8th grade algebra and it tricks their brain into giving a shit about their job
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Strange way of spelling 'omelettes'.
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They don’t like it but Waffle House is a jewel of efficiency
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The employees of a waffle House cannot use her computer ... Duh
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No way they do this
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Why I friggin love this page!
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Great, low tech, works even when there’s no electricity and pattern recognition is faster than reading speed.
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Amazing
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youtube.com/watch?v=Jky5ZXI0…
Waffle House Training - Pull Drop Mark Order Calling Method

Waffle House Training - Pull Drop Mark Order Calling Method

Waffle House employee training video on the pull drop mark order ca...

youtube.com
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