The Short-Lived Menu Collab Between Waffle House And Chick-Fil-A
Few southern fast food chains compare to Chick-fil-A and Waffle House. One is the fast food visionary that brought the chicken sandwich to world prominence (via Chick-fil-A), and the other is hailed by many as a cultural icon (per Atlanta Magazine). But while Everything Georgia reports these two beloved fast food joints were both born in the Peach State, like most distant cousins, they have few other similarities. Although Chick-fil-A is renowned for its place in the lunch game, and Waffle House is worshipped for creating a 24/7 breakfast empire, these two chains share an intertwined past.
Are you ready for some life-altering knowledge? According to Everything Georgia, there was once a time when you could sit down at a Waffle House and find a Chick-fil-A item on the menu. Considering how many foodies of any region would pay good money for such a collab, you may be wondering why Waffle House and Chick-fil-A stopped their partnership. Well then, let's take a journey into the past to learn all about the short-lived Waffle House and Chick-fil-A collaboration to find out.
The Chick-fil-A collab was a little too successful at Waffle House
If you step out of our fast-food-powered time machine, you'll find yourself in 1965 Hapeville, Georgia, standing in front of Dwarf House Grill. This unsuspecting fast food restaurant was owned by Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A. One year earlier, Cathy had come up with an all-new idea for the time: a fried chicken sandwich. Still just a fledgling product, Cathy began authorizing other restaurants to sell his sandwiches in an effort to bring in more sales. One of those restaurants was none other than Waffle House.
In 1964, Cathy made a deal with the breakfast restaurant that permitted it to sell his Chick-fil-A sandwiches. This collaboration proved to work well. In fact, Everything Georgia claims that the business for the chicken sandwich turned out to be too good. Supposedly, customers were so busy asking for the iconic Chick-fil-A creation that they were barely ordering eats off of Waffle House's actual in-house menu. As a result, the collaboration was brought to an end.
Although Chick-fil-A and Waffle House's break up is a distant memory, today's foodies seem to think that the southern fast food companies need to get back together. And while 1960s fast food lovers only had eyes for the chicken sandwich, modern eaters seem to feel like the two brands' products complete each other.
Foodies clearly still want a Chick-fil-A and Waffle House team up
It seems fans are already taking a partnership between Chick-fil-A and Waffle House into their own hands by hacking both of the chains' menus to create the ultimate fast food mash-up – chicken and waffles. As you might have guessed, videos across TikTok have been showcasing fast food lovers driving to Waffle House to get a classic waffle before heading straight to Chick-fil-A to collect some crispy chicken strips. You can probably guess the next step. The dedicated foodies then combine the two products before drizzling the meal in maple syrup. In one video that has garnered 125,300 likes, fast food lovers in the comments couldn't praise the concept enough. One commenter even stated, "If #chickfila and #wafflehouse did a merge I wouldn't even be mad."
And fast food fans may be onto something by saying Waffle House and Chick-fil-A are each other's better half. According to Thrillist, Chick-fil-A actually did try out a chicken and waffles product in 2014. For undisclosed reasons, the would-be menu item didn't make it out of testing. However, thanks to Thrillist, we do know that, because it was allegedly baked into the meal, Chick-fil-A's unsuccessful venture didn't come with syrup and the waffle it featured was also relatively small. Obviously, we all know the solution to those two glaring problems, but it doesn't seem like the restaurant seems especially eager to try the collab again. Despite the expressed wishes of some vocal fans, Waffle House and Chick-fil-A have yet to make any new collab official — for now.