America’s favorite 24-hour diner closes its doors on Jensen Huang

Before Jensen Huang was strutting across the global stage with his signature shiny leather jacket, he was a dishwasher at a Denny’s.

It’s a bullet point on his resume he flashes proudly. He talks about it in interviews, crediting the diner for helping him break out of a shyer version of himself, and his five-year stint as a dishwasher, busboy and waiter is the first line on his LinkedIn profile before a decades-long career in tech. A Denny’s diner booth in San Jose was also where he co-founded the chip giant Nvidia in 1993, before spending 33 years spearheading what has become one of the most important companies in the artificial intelligence boom.

In 2023, that diner at 2484 Berryessa Drive unveiled a plaque commemorating the booth where Nvidia was dreamed up over eggs, bacon and coffee that read: “The booth that launched a $1 trillion company. Congrats Nvidia! Who knew that an idea started here would change the world?”

An employee at the San Jose Denny’s confirmed to SFGATE on Friday that the diner took down the plaque Thursday night. The employee, who did not identify themself, said they couldn’t tell SFGATE who told them to take it down. 

On Tuesday, Denny’s head of corporate public relations, Colton Grace, said the company was “working on our perspective” on the Huang controversy. He did not respond to subsequent requests for comment until Friday, noting a statement was “forthcoming.”

The only comment so far from Denny’s nodding at the Huang controversy came on Thursday, the same morning that Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation, where a post from the Denny’s X account read: “in the club shaking it somberly.”

Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment. 

The plaque isn’t the only commemoration for Huang that Denny’s has rolled out. Last year, it launched a limited time “innovative dish” at a Nvidia tech conference called Nvidia Breakfast Bytes. The special came with four sausage links and pancakes, and diners were encouraged to eat it the way Huang reportedly did — by rolling up the sausages in the pancakes and dipping them in maple syrup.

In 2023, Denny’s also honored Huang by launching a contest to field the “next trillion-dollar idea.” Customers were encouraged to pitch ideas for a new company, with the winner receiving a $25,000 seed fund to make it happen. This year’s winner was a dad in Lexington, Kentucky, who pitched a social media site to connect other dads with volunteer opportunities. Denny’s did not respond to a question about whether the contest would live on, but the contest’s webpage appears to no longer exist.

“We’re deeply honored that America’s Diner played a role in NVIDIA’s origin story as a global AI powerhouse,” said Denny’s CEO Kelli Valade in a statement about the breakfast special last year. “This new menu item is our way of celebrating Jensen and his groundbreaking work while still keeping Denny’s as part of his inspiring story.”

Contact tech reporter Matthew Brown at [email protected] or matthewbrownsfgate.11 on Signal.