10 of the best breakfast chains across the US

During Labor Day weekend in 1955, neighbors Joe Rogers and Tom Forkner opened their first Waffle House in Avondale Estates, Georgia.

Today there are over 2,100 locations serving up fan favorites like steak and eggs, smothered hash browns, and, of course, waffles nearly 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Waffle House is especially popular in the South, but there are locations as far west as Arizona and as far north as Toledo, Ohio.

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For the past 60 years, the International House of Pancakes, or IHOP, has been feeding the nation inventive breakfast fare with catchy names.

The chain was founded in California and now boasts more than 1,650 locations across the US and the globe.

The menu offers a wide variety of pancake flavors, like churro, cannoli, cupcake, and double blueberry. IHOP also serves other breakfast items, like sausage, eggs, and omelets.

The Original Pancake House was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1953.

In addition almost 150 franchise locations across 23 states, the chain also has restaurants in South Korea and Japan.

The menu includes featured items, like apple pancakes and Dutch babies, as well as unique pancake flavors like bacon, coconut, buttermilk, sourdough, buckwheat, Hawaiian, and Georgia pecan.

Founded in 2000, Hash House a Go Go is known for its Midwest fare and generous portions and has been featured on shows like the Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" and Food Network's "Chef vs. City."

The chain only has a handful of locations across the country, but it has made a big name for itself by being featured in publications like The New York Times, the New York Post, Lonely Planet, and Bon Appétit.

First Watch opened its first location in 1983 in Pacific Grove, California, and the chain has been serving made-to-order meals to daytime diners ever since.

The chain's CEO and president Chris Tomasso told Forbes in 2019 that by only serving breakfast and lunch and closing around 2:30 p.m. every day, the company is able to fully focus on being the best at what it does.

The chain, which now has over 300 company-owned restaurants, landed at number three on a Restaurant Business survey of the "most craved breakfasts" in 2017.

After opening a few Pizzaville restaurants in and around North Carolina in 1967, Maurice Jennings took the family biscuit recipe to Danville, Virginia, and in 1975 the first Biscuitville was born.

Today, there are over 60 locations, but you won't find any outside of North Carolina and Virginia just yet. However, the mouth-watering breakfast sandwiches and platters are worth the stop if you're in town.

Most people recognize Marie Callender's from the pies in the frozen aisle at the grocery store, but the company also manages a chain of 28 restaurants across Nevada, Utah, and California.

The first Marie Callender's opened in the late 1940s as bakeries. Then they transitioned to coffee and pie shops in 1964 and, finally, full-service restaurants in 1969.

The full breakfast menu is offered all day long, with the exception of hash browns, which are replaced with tater tots at 11 a.m. The chain also offers a variety of homemade pies every day.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, better known as just Cracker Barrel, was founded in 1969 in the town of Lebanon, Tennessee.

By 1977 there were already 13 locations in the South, and there are now 664 Cracker Barrels across 45 states.

Cracker Barrel serves its extensive breakfast menu all day long, and the chain has become a popular stop for road-tripping families, especially because of its famous gift shops that are attached to each dining area.

Huddle House flipped its first flapjacks in Decatur, Georgia, in 1964. Today, the chain offers hot breakfast dishes to hungry customers in nearly 350 locations across 24 states.

Some of Huddle House's popular menu items include pancakes, prime rib tips, omelets, and country-fried steaks.

Originally known as Danny's Donuts in Lakewood, California, this popular chain was founded in 1953. The chain's name was later changed to Denny's, although there was not anyone named Danny nor Denny involved in the creation of the restaurant.

In 1977, Denny's introduced a menu item inspired by baseball player Hank Aaron that would become its most famous offering: the Grand Slam breakfast combo platter. It includes two buttermilk pancakes, two eggs, two bacon strips, and two sausage links.

Nearly 70 years later, there are over 1,500 Denny's restaurant locations across all 50 states and Washington DC.