Huddle House tops franchise listings

Think restaurant accolades in Louisiana and certain select names rise to the occasion. There is Arnaud’s, Brennan’s, Huddle House … yes, Huddle House. It was the chain’s Galliano location that placed first in its region and second among a field of more than 400 eateries under the same banner in 17 southeastern and Midwestern states. As a result, corporate leaders presented the area franchise owners with their Best of the Best award.

Restaurant manager Valerie Callais said her parents, Annette and Howie Guidry, bought and opened the Huddle House location in Galliano nearly five years ago as an initial venture into the restaurant business. “They were interested in finding something that stayed open late and something that served anything,” Callais said.

With 28 employees, the Guidry’s operate their family-friendly diner 24-hours a day and are best known for breakfast, featuring the Big House, served anytime around the clock. The menu also includes burgers, pork chops, steaks, seemingly unlimited breakfast items, coffee, shakes and sodas.

There is no tofu and alfalfa sprout sandwiches on white bread with the crust cut off in this establishment. This is a traditional diner with booths seating four and stools at the counter from where the cooking can be seen and heard, all backed with a franchise name for easy recognition along the highway.

“The Huddle House menu has a wide variety of comfort food items,” Huddle House Senior Account Executive Jordy Patano said in a printed statement.

“[The Best of the Best award] all goes by the cleanliness of the store and customer service,” Callais said. “It goes all the way from the outside to the inside, to employee appearance and sales.”

Huddle House is set apart from its competition across the street, the one with golden arches, because instead of having premade fast food, everything here is cooked to order and served in a relaxed atmosphere. “Nothing is precooked,” Callais said.

Callais said their greatest challenge, in a business that typically has frequent turnover, is to maintain a good staff. “[The] challenge is to get good, reliable workers, people that want to work [and are] reliable and responsible.”

Huddle House restaurants began in 1964 with the entrepreneurial intentions of John Sparks in Decatur, Ga. After being sold to a private company in 1994, other business-minded individuals bought franchises and the company grew.

Callais said she did not know what this location made in net sales but added that it has been designated as a member of the Huddle House $1 Million Club.

“With the food being cooked made to order it is going to take a little bit longer than at a fast food restaurant,” Callais said. “Some people just don’t understand that.”

“Huddle House [is] be implementing a new and fresh design with flexible seating so even larger groups can come and enjoy our house,” Patano said.

What the regular crowd at the Huddle House in Galliano does understand is having a satisfying, regular meal in a casual environment for a reasonable price. Those elements make the Best of the Best award one that draws return business and establishes a select name for this diner among other restaurants.