While many are bracing for Hurricane Isaias, the world will be watching how Waffle House responds.
Waffle House has been a staple of American cuisine ever since it first founded in Georgia in 1955. Now, the franchise boasts over 2000 locations, and they’re known for being open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year just as much as they’re known for they’re delicious All-Star Special.
Side note: If you go to a Waffle House and order anything other than the All-Star Special, we can’t be friends.
Funny enough, the restaurant that typically never closes serves an important purpose when big storms hit. Hurricane Isaias – which has strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane – is set to make landfall later tonight. Southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle look to be in the direct line of the storm that will continue up the south and bring heavy rain to strong winds to states like Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Florida and Alabama are set to get hit by the worst of it though:
Hope everyone in the path is fully prepared, and thank goodness we’ve got the Waffle House Index.
The interesting thing about the breakfast restaurant that has served an inordinate amount of eggs and hash browns in its lifetime is that Waffle House is often looked to in times of distress and emergency. No, I’m not talking about needing a greasy meal to save you from your hangover (though Waffle House is a great hangover cure).
I’m instead talking about the “Waffle House Index” that is often used by the government to gauge disasters.
The scale was first coined by Craig Fugate, the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, back in 2011 after a tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. The town’s two Waffle House stores remained open, and the FEMA director made a quip about the restaurant’s reputation for being the last to close and the first to reopen after a disaster:
“If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad. That’s where you go to work.”
What may have started out as a joke turned into an informal measurement used by the government, with Fugate turning the “Waffle House Index” into a color-coded scale to reference during disaster recovery:
- Green – The restaurant is serving a full menu, indicating the restaurant has power and damage is limited.
- Yellow – The restaurant is serving a limited menu, indicating there may be no power or only power from a generator or food supplies may be low.
- Red – The restaurant is closed, indicating severe damage.
Pretty cool right?
And as Hurricane Isaias is set to make landfall, all Waffle House locations in Escambia and Santa Rosa County have closed their doors. Considering those areas are in the path currently hit with “Hurricane Warnings,” that’s the right call. Rest assured, once the hurricane passes through, those Waffle House locations will do everything they can to get back into service… even if they lose power.
That’s right. Waffle House trains their employees to prepare for situations where power might be knocked out, and they even have certain menu items that are still able to be served without electricity. So for all of you in the path of the hurricane, stay hunkered down… and know that if all else fails, you’ll be able to go get some hash browns scattered, smothered and covered.
