Waffle House calls citizen campaign fake news

A Maricopa man’s campaign to bring Waffle House to town ended when the company accused him of a misinformation campaign. 

Waffle House told him to l’eggo their Eggo, and now he’s like Bonnie Raitt in 1991, singing, “I can’t make you love me.” 

The campaign started as it ended — suddenly and with much fanfare. Local resident Michael Wilcox took to the Maricopa Facebook groups this week on a quest to bring the Georgia-based breakfast joint to town. 

“I’m starting a campaign for a Waffle House in town,” Wilcox wrote in one post. 

“There is plenty of room near the Walmart for a Waffle House,” he said in another of the posts, each with an accompanying graphic depicting one of the yellow-topped diners in Maricopa. 

Four posts Tuesday garnered more than 500 “likes” and 330 comments. Wilcox and many newfangled supporters agreed Waffle House was their butter half — but things got stickier than a syrup spill when InMaricopa reached out to Waffle House with screenshots of the viral posts. 

We asked if Waffle House has any plans to set up shop in our desert suburb.  

Waffle House Vice President of Food Safety and Public Relations Njeri Boss didn’t waffle in her response, saying there were “no plans” to open another location in Arizona. The Grand Canyon State has 15 Waffle House locations concentrated in Phoenix and Tucson, compared to 800 locations in Georgia and the Carolinas. 

The Waffle House spokesperson said the company has tried and failed to combat campaigns like Wilcox’s. 

“While we’ve seen several posts like those you sent us, erroneously suggesting locations that currently are not under consideration, we have not been able to stop the proliferation of some of these incorrect and misleading social media posts,” Boss said.