Did You Know That The “Waffle House Index” Is An Actual Measurement That’s Been Used By The Government In Disasters?

Waffle House? More like Waffle Home. Of course everybody knows Waffle House as the place that you go at 3 AM when you're drunk and need some delicious, greasy food to end the night. Their smothered and covered hash browns have been bringing people back to life (or helping them start their day I guess) since the restaurant chain, which now has over 2000 locations, was first founded in Georgia in 1955. The great thing about Waffle House is that they're open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - but that means that when they DO close up shop, you know something serious is going on. That's the idea behind the now-infamous Waffle House Index. Because Waffle House has a relatively limited menu and streamlined operations, the chain is able to stay open when other stores and restaurants have to close. They're also well-known for reopening quickly after a disaster. So when the Waffle House is closed, it's a sign of a serious problem - most notably, a hurricane. And the Waffle House Index is more than just a cultural phenomenon. It's also an unofficial metric used by the government to determine the severity of a disaster and gauge the scope of resources that will likely be needed for recovery. 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.

And not only did Fugate create a scale, he also had a site map of Waffle Houses to monitor their status when directing resources and sent out emails to his team with the status of Waffle House locations in affected areas. As for the restaurant itself, Waffle House has embraced their role in disaster response in recent years, and even has their own "hurricane playbook" to help them reopen quickly to get back to feeding the community. Part of that playbook includes limiting their menu to help with supply chain issues. Of course most of Florida is currently preparing for Hurricane Milton, which is currently in the Gulf of Mexico and threatens to be one of the strongest storms to ever hit the state. So all eyes are on Waffle House right now - and the restaurant is doing their best to keep those in the storm's path informed on their social media accounts: https://twitter.com/WaffleHouse/status/1843736072401940976 Serving their community, even when they're closed.