The first Waffle House restaurant was opened in 1955. Since then, it has grown into a chain of more than 1,500 company and franchise-owned casual restaurants in over 25 U.S. states. The chain s restaurants serve a variety of waffles, steaks, omelets, hamburgers, pork chops and grits. Its restaurants specialty dishes include Bert's Chili, Walt s Soup, Alice s Iced Tea and Lib's Patty Melt. The chain s restaurants also offer hash browns. Waffle House serves more than 3 million pounds of grits annually and over 10,000 T-bone steaks each day. Its restaurants are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The chain supports various health and human service organizations, youth and educational programs, and disadvantage and other civic causes through the Waffle House Foundation. It conducts in-house events and programs, such as The Great Miller Lite Chili Cook-off and the Waffle House World Waffle Eating Championship.