How proud is San Jose of being the birthplace of the Eggo? Leaders named the street where the waffle is made Eggo Way.
Eggo Way just might be one of the shortest streets in the city. You can drive it for all of about 20 feet before running smack into the gates of Kellog's factory. The small road is having a big impact on what is being called the great waffle crisis of 2009.
Word of a waffle shortage hit the news this week. Two of the four factories who produce the popular breakfast item have shut down and Kellog officials say they simply will not be able to make enough to meet the demand. The shortage could linger through next year and rationing is already underway.
San Jose is one of two factories that are still up and running.
Standing outside the building, you hear a factory humming away at top speed, doing it's best to keep up with a nation desperate not to let go of their Eggos.
Kelsie Brady, for one, has heard news of the Eggo shortage and she reacted by scooping up some of the dwindling supply at the Cosentino's Market in San Jose.
One thing waffle lovers may not be aware of is the Eggo's deep connection to the South Bay.
The factory in San Jose is one of only two factories in the country currently producing the frozen breakfast treat. And it isn't just a place where they make Eggos, it's where frozen waffles were invented.
Frank Dorsa's father and two brothers started the Eggo company back in the 1930s in San Jose
The younger Dorsa now owns a chain of South Bay car washes, a business that relies on quite a bit of automation. Just the kind of the thing Frank Senior brought to waffle production.
The kind of thing that led to Kellog's buying them out in the 1960s. So what would Frank Senior say about a company not able to keep up with the Eggo demand?
"He'd say fix it and don't wait six months or a year, fix it tomorrow," Frank Jr. said.
He says in 1946, while the family was in Yosemite on vacation, the San Jose factory burned to the ground. The family raced back and his father had an assembly line set up in the street and was back in business in just one week.
