After five years of planning, Waffle House says it is raising the base salary of its workers—to $3 per hour.
The company will set the new floor for base pay this month, gradually increasing it to a minimum of $5.25 per hour by June 2026, CEO Joe Rogers III announced in a video to employees.
The video was released in May, but has come to light only recently. Rogers called the move “the single largest additional investment in our workforce in the entire 68-year history of Waffle House.”
The federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 an hour for the last 15 years. Tipped employees, though, are often not covered by that figure.
Base pay is just part of a worker’s salary at Waffle House. Tips are on top of that (and the company ensured its workers that there would be no tip-sharing or tip-pooling as part of the new compensation—each worker would keep the tips they earn). Staff will also receive a tenure bonus, based on how long (cumulatively) they have worked at the company. Starting this month, waiters and waitresses will receive the same tenure bonus as grill operators.
Workers who have spent three years or more with Waffle House are eligible for the tenure bonus, which initially adds 50 cents per hour to their salary. Workers who have booked more than 30 years with the company earn an extra $3.20 per hour.
Waiters and waitresses who work shifts where tips are historically lower will earn either 50 cents or $1 more per hour on top of their base pay.
Base rates, the company says, will rise over time, with three different categories. By June 2026, one will have a base of $5.25 per hour, another will hit $6.25 by February 2027, and a third will grow to $7.25 by June 2027.
No immediate changes will be made in states where there is already a base rate mandated by law. Rogers said no one will see their base rate lowered.
To pay for the higher wages, Waffle House plans to increase menu prices.
Correction, Jun. 20, 2024: This article has been updated to remove an incorrect statement about the federal minimum wage.