TAMPA - The days may be numbered for "scattered, covered and smothered" hash browns at Waffle House. The iconic roadside grill's biggest franchisee has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The action escaped attention locally, but a company called Northlake Foods Inc. of Brandon, which operates 146 Waffle Houses in Florida, Georgia and Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-September. Chapter 11 allows a company to reorganize its finances while protected from its creditors.
According to its bankruptcy filing, 90 of Northlake Foods' Waffle House locations are in Florida, but it wasn't immediately clear how many local restaurants it controls, if any.
The company filed for bankruptcy because Waffle House Inc. of Norcross, Ga., was threatening to terminate the franchise agreement that gives it the right to operate the restaurants, the bankruptcy filing says.
I have very fond memories of Waffle House. My MSNBC colleagues and I virtually lived at Waffle House during our weekly rotations into and out of Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Mississippi, two back-to-back towns that were 90 percent wiped out by Hurricane Katrina.