Some long-lost relatives are coming to see you, and they’d also like to visit some special places in Happy Valley. Where should you take them?
Of course, they’ll need to be photographed at the Lion Shrine—even if they’re fans of the SEC. And of course, they’ll need to sample Creamery ice cream—even if it is rather expensive. But where else should they go? Well, if you noticed the headline above this story, I’m sure you’re already realizing that your guests should eat at one of the Original Waffle Shops.
To me, the Waffle Shop is a marvel. How did an establishment that produces ordinary foods like omelets, pancakes and waffles become an extraordinary element of the Happy Valley experience?
To find the answer to that question, I arranged an extensive interview with the founder of the two “Original Waffle Shops,” John Dimakopoulos. I wanted to discover the hidden secrets of his enterprise, but I got more than that from this entrepreneur. The following are five aspects of Dimakopoulos’ life and the Waffle Shop’s success, some of which you may not have realized.
1: THE AMERICAN DREAM
It’s no secret that the founder of State College’s top breakfast attraction is from Greece. His multi-syllabic last name provides a clue to his heritage and so does the flying of Greek flags outside his restaurants.
But even though John (originally “Giannis”) is Greek to his core, he freely expresses his love for the United States, and his life is a demonstration of “The American Dream.”
It all started when John was a schoolboy in a village north of Athens and a powerful mid-1950s earthquake destroyed his family’s home and left his village destitute. “This country sent so much help,” says John. “Food and things. For the whole village. I even got a package—a little suit with pants and a jacket. And I said to myself, ‘Why would these people help us like this? This is America. I want to go there.’”
John’s desire to live in America grew steadily, and so he dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to join Greece’s Merchant Marines. A friend of a friend had promised him a restaurant job in New York City, and when John’s ship stopped in Baltimore for repairs, he took a train ride to New York, eventually arriving at the Bronx restaurant with limited English skills and just $20 in his pocket.
“I was a bus boy,” says John. “I wore a white shirt with a bow tie and black pants. And I would go to each table and ask, ‘Seltzer or water?’ Those were the words I had to learn. All these rich women who came to the restaurant thought I was just a cute little thing.”
Regardless of his cuteness, John knew how to work hard and he knew how to save his money. Before long he left the Bronx to work at a restaurant in northern New Jersey and then he moved on to another eatery, this one in the Jersey shore town of Wildwood. There, he met his future wife, Merry, a Philly-area high school student who would soon enroll in Penn State.
Not long after Merry moved into Simmons Hall as a freshman, John began working at State College’s Dutch Pantry restaurant and living in the attached motel. The two were married in 1968—a union that lasted 10 and a half years—and John began climbing his way up the Happy Valley food chain. He worked at several restaurants that were owned by local entrepreneur Ted Cocolin, including the well-known Beef Arena. Eventually, with the encouragement of Cocolin, John established his first Waffle Shop on East College Avenue.
Although Dimakopoulos once owned four Waffle Shops, in 2004 he sold the one on East College and another in Bellefonte to concentrate on the other two stores on West College and North Atherton, retitling them under the name of “The Original Waffle Shop.” Speaking of his locations for life, John currently owns three houses—one in the State College area, one in Naples, Florida and one located north of Athens in his home nation.
He acknowledges that his hard work has been foundational to his success, but he stresses that America gave him the opportunity.
“I love this country,” he says, “and this country has given me more than I could ever imagine. I am the American Dream.”
2: LUNCH IS FANTASTIC
“I’ve never had lunch at the Waffle Shop,” I said to John at one point in our conversation. “Even when I’m here at lunchtime, I still get breakfast food. Everything is so good.”
Trust me, I meant no disrespect with those words. In my mind, the breakfast fare in John’s restaurants is always so outstanding that I wouldn’t even think of trying his lunch options. But he looked so surprised—maybe a little hurt—that I knew I should ask, “What are your best options for lunch?”
Immediately, Dimakopoulos answered with four selections. “We have the best Philadelphia cheesesteaks and the best reuben sandwiches,” he said. “Our burgers are outstanding—so juicy; the meat is fresh. And we have a good Greek salad.” John’s wife, Lisa, standing nearby, then added a fifth option: “The BLT is huge, very popular, because our bacon is so good.”
Equipped with suggestions that came straight from the horse’s mouth, I decided to sample a lunch entrée during my next Waffle Shop visit. And to get an added opinion on the food, I brought one of my international friends, Juan Blazquez-Cuena, to come along. Both of us got the cheesesteak, and it was really, really good. Juan, however, surprised me by focusing on the quality of the coffee. Actually, this was not the first time for my European buddy to praise the Waffle Shop brew.
3: THE COFFEE IS SUPERB
It was January when Juan’s mother and sister visited him from Spain. And yes, my wife, Kathy, and I took them to the Waffle Shop. It really is a great place to entertain visitors, especially these folks from faraway Madrid.
In the case of Juan’s loved ones, they were still talking about my favorite State College eatery some six months later. “My mom and my sister loved the Waffle Shop,” he said to me in July. “Last week, we were talking about their visit and Mom said, ‘I still remember the coffee.’”
“As Europeans,” noted Juan, “we have higher standards for coffee—especially Italians, French and Spanish. And this coffee is good. It’s good! My Italian friend, Giuseppe, likes this coffee and he’s a purist. He has three espresso machines at home and one at the office, and the Waffle Shop is one of the few places in State College where he likes the coffee. He also likes Bonfatto’s in Bellefonte. He will not set foot in a Starbucks.”
As for me, I must confess I like a good cup of coffee but I’m not nearly as discriminating as Juan and his people. Lately, however, I’ve been paying attention to John’s Joe, and it really is good. No wonder the servers ask diners if they’d like to have a cup for the road.
4: THE SERVERS ARE SUPER
Ah yes, the servers. Where else in State College can you find a bunch of waiters and waitresses who deliver the goods as warmly and professionally as those at the Waffle Shop? These are the people who greet you with a smile…get your order right…keep filling up your coffee cup…and offer you some Joe to go.
I simply had to ask John to describe his process for finding and retaining good people.
“This is my entire thing,” says the high-energy restaurateur. “I want to have loyal employees, take good care of them, make sure they’re happy. In the restaurant business, employees usually don’t last long. But with our philosophy, I have people that have been working here over 20 years.
“The difference here is that it is a plus to just have breakfast and lunch. That makes a good schedule. (The two “Original” stores are open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.) It’s good for people who want to be home in the evenings. And it makes a good part-time job for people with kids in school.”
A hard worker throughout his lifetime, Dimakopoulos expects no less from his employees. “It is hard work,” he says. “And when we hire somebody, we say, ‘OK, this is a trial thing. You’re going to work here for two weeks and either you fit in here or you don’t.”
And there’s something that goes beyond hard work, something I saw when eating breakfast with my friend Chris Maurer a couple weeks ago. Chris did something I’ve done many times in the past—he spilled his coffee. So along came Hailey Swortwood, a Waffle Shop employee since January, who was armed with a cloth and a smile. First, she wiped up the spilled coffee. Then she asked Chris if he would like another cup. And then she finished with a smile and a clever little question. “Would you like a lid on it?”
It was the perfect happy ending to a Waffle Shop outing that might have otherwise felt exasperating. I mentioned that to Hailey and she replied with a summary of the restaurant’s view of hospitality. “We like to make it a personable experience for everyone.”
5: THERE IS NO SECRET
I heard some staggering statistics from Dimakopoulos as we sat in his basement office below the West College restaurant. He’s in the habit of compiling business stats every six months, and the numbers from the first half of 2024 were remarkable.
After noting that the second half of the year is always a bit better, the Greek dynamo uttered some January through June numbers that blew me away. “We served 99,808 omelets at West and 90,724 at North. That’s a lot of eggs.”
And then, before I could fully swallow those stats, he told me that the West store sold 32,532 waffles in six months while the North store did about 40,000.
Why more omelets on West College Avenue and more waffles on North Atherton Street? John noted that a higher percentage of Penn State students patronize the North restaurant, especially on weekends, and more business people and retirees frequent the West location. Regardless, the Waffle Shops churn out an amazing level of business, and I had to ask why. “John,” I asked, “what’s your secret?”
“There is no one thing,” said John. “There’s no secret weapon. It’s the little things that we care about. We talk about fresh, fast and fun, and we mean it. We want the food to be fresh, we want to be fast for our customers, and we want to have fun doing it. And it’s the consistency. We don’t give up. Things don’t always go smooth…we might be shorthanded today. But we don’t get discouraged; we just say, ‘Let’s try it again.’”
And of course, it all starts with the boss. The man who was born in a small Greek village in 1948 and who still shows up almost every day at both restaurants. “I love this business,” he said to me. “I love coming to work. Every day I go over there (the North location) and I come here. It’s my passion. I really enjoy it.”
