The first Waffle House restaurant was opened on Labor Day in 1955 in Avondale Estates, Ga. 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. It serves a variety of waffles, steaks, omelets, cheese, hamburgers, country ham, pork chops and grits. The restaurant serves specialty dishes, such as Bert's chili, Walt s soup, Alice s iced tea and Lib's patty melt. It offers hash browns in eight different ways. Waffle House serves more than 3 million pounds of grits each year and over 10,000 T-bone steaks each day. Apart from serving food, the restaurant supports various health and human service organizations, youth and education programs, and disadvantage and other civic causes. It conducts in-house events and programs, such as The Great Miller Lite Chili Cook-off and the Waffle House World Waffle Eating Championship. Headquartered in Norcross, Ga., Waffle House maintains several locations in Lithonia, Ga.