The owners of Waffle House make their money the way their employees do. Hard work. No financial alchemy from the Wall Street wizards. Just plain old serving the customer what they will trade their dollars for, watching costs, and growing with retained earnings.
-Doug French
http://lewrockwell.com/french/french141.html
they are also a cash only business. THey pay cash for their supplies. :) I've seen two locations in atlanta that have 4 waffle houses across the street and interstate from each other and they are all packed full. On saturday mornings usually there is a line waiting for a table :)