Waffle House in Kaufman is planned for 2210 Old Kemp Highway, bringing the familiar yellow sign and a new breakfast option to the city. The proposed restaurant would occupy a vacant site beside McDonald’s near Highway 34. City meeting materials offer a look at the building design, while a new state filing outlines construction planned for 2027–2028.
For future regulars, the more pressing question might be how to order the hash browns. Onions? Cheese? Both? Waffle House has built its identity around the kind of breakfast people can make their own, served in a neighborhood diner setting.
A Yellow Sign With a Long History
According to Waffle House’s official history, Georgia neighbors Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner started the business in Avondale Estates in 1955. Their idea was a 24-hour, sit-down restaurant for friends and neighbors, with a focus on the people on both sides of the counter.
The company grew from that neighborhood restaurant into a chain recognized by its yellow signs. Its round-the-clock model remains central to the brand, making breakfast part of the conversation well beyond the morning commute. Local operating details for the planned Kaufman restaurant have not yet been announced.
Waffle House in Kaufman: Start With Your Hash Brown Order
Waffles share the spotlight with the chain’s signature hash browns. For anyone new to the ordering language, “smothered” means grilled onions and “covered” means melted American cheese. It is a small vocabulary lesson with a satisfying payoff.
The phrase “Scattered, Smothered & Covered” first appeared on the menu in February 1984, according to the company’s hash brown history. Decades later, those custom orders remain a recognizable part of the Waffle House experience.
The brand’s mix of waffles, eggs, hash browns, and diner-style meals gives the Kaufman project a straightforward appeal: another place to sit down for familiar comfort food.
A Look at the Proposed Kaufman Restaurant
The city’s June 2, 2026, Planning & Zoning packet describes a 1.26-acre site for a restaurant without drive-through service. The plan proposes 30 parking spaces and a sidewalk along the street frontage. Staff recommended approval of the site plan.
The colored elevations show a brick facade, red metal awnings, broad windows, and yellow Waffle House lettering. These drawings illustrate the proposed Kaufman building; the featured photograph shows an existing Waffle House location.
The city’s location map identifies parcel 5365 along Old Kemp Highway, north of Kings Fort Parkway. Although the staff report uses a Tabor Parkway address, the map shows the Old Kemp Highway frontage, consistent with the street named in the state filing.
When Is Waffle House in Kaufman Planned?
The TDLR registration for Waffle House #20646 lists an estimated $300,000 construction cost and 1,840 square feet. Its scheduled construction window runs from September 1, 2027, through February 29, 2028.
The earlier city report lists an approximately 1,913-square-foot building footprint. That differs from the size in the state filing, so the figures reflect their respective documents. The listed completion date is a construction target, not a confirmed opening day.
Waffle House’s official Texas directory does not currently list a Kaufman restaurant, though it includes nearby Terrell and Forney. A first-ever location claim has not been independently confirmed. For now, the concrete news is a planned restaurant, a mapped local site, and a proposed design for that familiar yellow sign.