You won't make your fortune starting at the bottom rung of a waffle house, but they, and other service industries like them, have fantastic opportunities for career progression so long as you're able to stick to the task and demonstrate your worth. Almost everyone involved in a waffle house franchise started at the ground floor and worked their way up.
Take any role within a waffle house franchise and tell the boss you're ambitious. Ask for extra duties and responsibilities whenever possible, and always put the hours in. Most people working within a waffle house treat it like a part time job, so be different. Become a manager. Then become an area manager. Ask for more and more stores and responsibility. Once you're really good at that, buy into the franchise and open your own store. It's one of the easiest systems to climb through if you're dedicated.