Landrum has a new place to grab waffles, hash browns, and coffee at all hours — eventually. The city celebrated the grand opening of its first Waffle House on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the restaurant's new home at 120 Fairwinds Road, near the Interstate 26 interchange.
City of Landrum officials hosted the ceremony, and Tricia Taber, the city's marketing director, offered a welcome to the new business, according to The Tryon Daily Bulletin. “The city of Landrum is excited to welcome Waffle House to the community,” Taber said, adding, “Congratulations to this amazing team.” The new diner will serve the chain's signature waffles alongside other breakfast and comfort-food staples, the outlet reports.
For now, hungry Landrum residents will need to plan around a limited schedule. The station's report notes the Fairwinds Road location will operate from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. during its first few weeks before transitioning to full 24-hour service — a notable milestone for a chain whose round-the-clock reputation is practically part of its brand identity.
A Regulatory Shift Cleared the Way
The path to Landrum's Waffle House began well before Tuesday's ribbon-cutting. In July 2025, the city's interim Technical Review Committee evaluated initial site plans for the 0.3-acre Fairwinds Road parcel, reviewing details down to 33 parking spaces, utility connections, and landscaping that includes glossy abelia shrubs and a maple tree, according to The Tryon Daily Bulletin.
That review came just days after the Landrum City Council voted on July 8, 2025, to suspend and repeal its Board of Architectural Review along with its 2001 design guidelines while the city updates its comprehensive plan, per a separate report from The Tryon Daily Bulletin. City administrators pointed to contradictory language in the old guidelines as the primary reason for the repeal, with the interim committee stepping in to handle site reviews like the Waffle House proposal in the meantime.
Part of a Broader Highway 14 Building Boom
The Waffle House wasn't the only project moving through Landrum's review process that summer. The same wave of commercial development considered in July 2025 included site plans for a new Zaxby's drive-thru at 1820 Highway 14 East and an 1,800-square-foot storage and training facility for Landrum Fire and Rescue, the Bulletin's earlier coverage notes.
The Fairwinds Road site's appeal is largely about access — it sits roughly 0.1 miles from the I-26 interchange near the South Carolina–North Carolina border, according to a LoopNet listing for the property. That kind of highway visibility has made commercial parcels along Fairwinds Road increasingly attractive to developers eyeing interstate commuter traffic passing through this stretch of northern Spartanburg County.
A Small Town With Growing Foot Traffic
Landrum itself remains a small town — its 2020 U.S. Census population stood at 2,481, with five-year American Community Survey estimates putting the figure at approximately 2,620 by 2024, according to data compiled via Census Reporter. The city covers roughly 2.6 square miles.
But the area is positioned for more visitor traffic in the years ahead. Landrum sits along the planned 31.5-mile Saluda Grade Trail, a rail-trail project converting an inactive Norfolk Southern railway line from Inman, South Carolina, through Landrum to Zirconia, North Carolina, according to the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy. Engineering design for the first five-mile section through Landrum had reached 60% completion by this month, as Hoodline reported in its trail progress coverage.
The Waffle House Behind the Waffle House
The Landrum property is owned by WH Capital, L.L.C., a real-estate holding subsidiary of parent corporation Waffle House, Inc., which manages store properties across the restaurant's network, according to Wikipedia. As of July 2026, Waffle House operates more than 2,100 locations across 25 states, with its largest clusters in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, per data from ScrapeHero. Georgia alone accounts for more than 450 of those locations.
The chain traces its roots back to Labor Day weekend in September 1955, when neighbors Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner opened the first Waffle House in Avondale Estates, Georgia, according to the Bulletin's report on the Landrum opening. Forkner suggested the name because waffles were the most popular item on the restaurant's early menu — a detail noted by WSB Radio. The original Georgia location now operates as a corporate museum.
Why 24-Hour Service Matters Beyond the Menu
The Fairwinds Road location's planned 24-hour service will provide convenience for late-night diners.
That service will give Landrum diners another round-the-clock option. Once the Fairwinds Road location moves off its initial 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. window, it will offer service around the clock.
