The 'Waffle House Index': FEMA Impressed By Chain's Disaster Preparedness

Many people think that the official motto of US Postal Service begins "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night," and testifies to the dauntless of mailmen. In fact, the Postal Service has no motto -- meaning the statement of purpose is free for others to use as their own. HuffPost Food would like to suggest an unlikely taker: Waffle House.

According to the Wall Street Journal's Valerie Bauerline, the 62-year-old Southern food chain has a longstanding reputation for staying open during natural disasters. And if a storm is too intense to stay open straight through the worst of it, Waffle House has especially strong protocols for getting back online quickly. Bauerline explains:

Its hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve if there is gas but no electricity, or a generator but no ice. An important element is limiting the menu so the company's supply chain can focus on keeping certain items stocked and chilled or frozen.

Waffle House's tenacity and preparedness are so watertight that FEMA Director Craig Fugate has joked that he watches a "Waffle House Index" of disaster magnitude. He can tell how bad a disaster's been by how much of its menu Waffle House is serving. EHS Today specifies the exact parameters of the index, which gained credence when Washington University Business professor Panos Kouvelis conducted a study on the subject:

For example, if a Waffle House store is open and offering a full menu, the index is green. If it is open but serving from a limited menu, it’s yellow. When the location has been forced to close, the index is red. Because Waffle House is well prepared for disasters, Kouvelis said, it’s rare for the index to hit red. For example, the Joplin, Mo., Waffle House survived the tornado and remained open.

As FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate explained to the Wall Street Journal, "If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That's really bad. That's where you go to work."

The only other chains with comparable disaster management are Wal Mart, Lowe's and the Home Depot -- none of which serve pork chops or hash browns topped with chili.

Comments

[nlpnt]

05:47 PM on 09/16/2011

So is FEMA relief to Vermont being based on Wal-Mart in Rutland? The only Lowe's and Home Depot are in the Burlington area which was mostly spared, and the latter is on quite high ground. The northeasternmost Waffle House is in Clarks' Summit, PA (about where I-91 crosses the PA/NY state line), 200-plus miles from the hardest hit areas in New England. Just wonderin'.

[rudyg43]

03:20 PM on 09/15/2011

This is my favorite place to breakfast on any trip across the nation. FEMA should pay attention to the "Waffle House" and how they prepare. Republicans wanted to cut FEMA budget by 55%; Ron Paul wants to destroy it. It's hypocritical that after Irene, Republicans blame Obama for under funding. FEMA's Irene response praised by both Democratic and GOP governors. Many conservatives want to get rid of life preservers altogether. This weekend, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul made waves by saying FEMA should be destroyed. We shouldn't be surprised. Republicans also said they wouldn't do anything to help the economy and the middle class unless spending was cut from the very poor and elderly. Boehner's policy prescriptions are expected to mirror the Republican Party's long-running position that the key to jump starting growth is to get government out of the way and allow the private sector to do its thing. This is the same plan as "Compassionate Conservatism", (never was) "Trickle down Economics", that never trickled and the "Moral majority", which never has been. Boehner needs one as his proposal will tank like everything else the TEA/GOP has proposed!

[Montana 123]

08:52 PM on 09/04/2011

Great, now I want grits.

[watchclock]

01:51 AM on 09/04/2011

Now you know what you might be served at your nearest friendly neighborhood FEMA Camp.

[Feminism is dead]

09:29 AM on 09/03/2011

The headline for this article led me to believe something bad was happening to the Waffle Houses of the world.

Thankfully, this was not the case.

[Giapo]

11:44 PM on 09/02/2011

I just had a nice ribeye steak dinner there. Weee

[The Angel Technician]

09:01 PM on 09/02/2011

The Waffle House is a guilty pleasure when visiting the south. The last time I was in Florida I visited and waited anxiously, salivating for that Virginia Ham, Waffles and eggs over easy. Then I saw a roach crawl over the hood, lose it's footing and fall onto the griddle. It sizzled like a piece of bacon. I was so hungry and road tired that I tried at first to tell myself that I was seeing things but two of my band mates witnessed it as well. We all got up from the counter wearily, wearing long faces and without saying a word. I was sad to leave that Virginia Ham. The Waffle House may be prepared for natural disaster but they never close and have little time to clean. Still my mouth waters as I think of that Virginia Ham. Yum!!!

[Bigjon87121]

05:24 AM on 09/03/2011

Waffle house is not that good or clean.

[pepper1311]

11:56 AM on 09/03/2011

Did you order extra meat?

[tlee47ftw]

08:48 PM on 09/02/2011

I think it says a lot when your business model is used by others to determine the seriousness of a natural disaster.

[Decipherer]

03:46 PM on 09/03/2011

Who said that their "business model" was used as anything other than one indicator of something else? I don't think it was THE indicator of the seriousness of a natural (or other) disaster, but why should FEMA simply ignore it?

[tlee47ftw]

08:44 PM on 09/02/2011

Breakfast is the only Waffle House meal I care much for, but for a cheap, fast and reasonably tasty breakfast they are as good as any place.

[Decipherer]

03:48 PM on 09/03/2011

Last time I ate at one was because it was the only thing open (for breakfast) where I was and I was hungry.

The "food" stunk.

[John C75]

08:10 PM on 09/02/2011

I'm thinking opening a waffle house is a good investment.

[hrmomforgod]

08:10 PM on 09/02/2011

Its not about the menu so much (although, comfort food is a great anedote for a bad day on any level), but the knowing that there's a light, a friendly face-or at the least someone to commiserate with; and perhaps some sanity when all else is turned upside down. It's a gathering place where you can rub shoulders with another warm soul that knows what you're going through instead of waiting...waiting for help... waiting for the sun to come out... waiting for the water to stop... waiting for a word from some impersonal suit in DC to give his opinion. We all need to be more like Waffle House and start taking care of our own. Offering whatever help we can, even if it's just a bowl of hot grits or a waffle. FEMA can take all the lessons they want (they need to, that's for sure), but we need to be where we don't need FEMA for every bump we hit.

[Lao2stroker]

02:48 AM on 09/04/2011

I am a long veteran and lover of Waffle House. It was a treat as a child and an option to Denny's when on road trips.

And in all that time, "a light, someone to commiserate with, etc" Umm, once I got older, I kinda knew I wasn't fit to 'rub shoulders' with these folks.

Other parts, for a price, yes. And with the right 'key words' one could usually score any nature of stimulants, narcotics, and other substances from the waitresses or grill cooks. At the very least you could coerce some really insane stories from the waitresses doing the 11pm-7am shift, and these were wild ones.

There was one lady, from Amarillo, that spent 2 hours at least recounting her glory days with Willie Nelson back in the day. To here her tell it, Willie's hot tub would have given Heff's a case of blushing. And she looked like she never left the party....

We used to really enjoy entering a Waffle House in remote, small towns, just to see how much the Meth trade was booming. It was usually a pretty good gauge of just how screwed that little place could be.

I know some folks are gonna say that isn't true, etc etc, but to the untrained eye and the unknowing, if you weren't part of that subculture, you would never know. But Waffle House has a rep for 2 things, Waffles and late night tweaking. And Denny's cannot compete in that vein.

[farginbastidge]

09:18 PM on 09/06/2011

Of course not--Denny's is for drunks.

[lhr1967]

08:10 PM on 09/02/2011

I guess the Obama Admin. looks to stores like Crazy Eddie , The Wiz , Circuit City , and Woolworth . For his ideas on how to run the country . Yes all these are out of business .

[tlee47ftw]

08:45 PM on 09/02/2011

It says a lot about the rightwing when they have to drag politics into everything. It is sad they have to turn everything into a criticism. Really sad.

[Jack Hagerty]

09:40 PM on 09/02/2011

It says a lot about the left wing when they can't recognize the exact same behavior. I stopped reading HuffPo because it seemed that every in single post the comments would include at least one, usually several, snarky attacks on Sarah Palin or Fox News. It's not that I don't think they deserve criticism, but the smug, self satisfied demonetization exhibited here was too much to take.

[behavingbadly]

02:48 PM on 09/06/2011

Your aim is true. F&F

[Decipherer]

03:53 PM on 09/03/2011

And guess what? They all went out of business during the Cheeney administration.

[lhr1967]

09:00 AM on 09/05/2011

Sure and others opened to take their place . What is your point ? There has been ZERO GROWTH I MEAN NEGATVIE GROWTH , since obama moved in to the white house . I have asked this of the Kool-Aid Drinkers I know and yet they have no real answer . What good has Obama done since he became president ? Don't say Obamacare because that dose not go into effect until 2014 , and If it is so dame good why did Obama give out over 1400 waviers on it already ?

[laclone]

08:08 PM on 09/02/2011

Last January, N. Houston had a series of rolling black-outs. Waffle House was the only place open for lunch. The waffle irons were off (no electric), but that gas grill & burners were kept busy! They served pancakes instead of waffles and someone even had a Perculator of coffee going!

FEMA would do well to have a bunch of Waffle House-style trailers set up to deploy anywhere at any time.

[pepper1311]

12:00 PM on 09/03/2011

Just hire every street vendor go to natural disasters.

[Beeznitchio]

07:59 PM on 09/02/2011

I know natural disasters makes me crave hashbrowns scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, and diced.

[Decipherer]

01:57 PM on 09/06/2011

Don't forget that lard topping.

[kenergy599]

07:54 PM on 09/02/2011

How many people have died of coronary heart disease from eating there on a regular basis?

[tlee47ftw]

08:46 PM on 09/02/2011

Depends entirely on what you eat, no matter where you are. They do serve salads you know.