More beautiful observation Daisy 🙏🏼❤️. And it makes me ridiculously happy to now know that breakfast at any time is part of America’s labour history. Not just-because.
I find it moving too. Imagine, opening at 2am to serve people on their way to shifts at meatpacking plants. I started thinking about the role these old-fashioned eating places play when someone told me that these days Waffle House is famous for being open 24-hours a day. They stay open no matter what. After a hurricane, or in a fire, everyone goes to Waffle House. It's a thing, apparently, especially in the South.
This is from WaHo's website: Before the days of COVID-19, the only things certain in the world were death, taxes, and Waffle House being open. It became so synonymous with never closing that it even earned a FEMA designation. The Waffle House Index started when former Head of FEMA Craig Fugate said, in response to a 2011 tornado during which two WaHo locations remained open, “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad.”
The Waffle House Index went on to become an unofficial metric to inform disaster response based on WaHo’s top-of-the-line reputation for disaster preparation and either remaining open or reopening quickly after a catastrophe.
There are three levels, which indicate the level of operations and supplies following the natural disaster, whatever it may be: What’s so remarkable about the Waffle House Index is that it has set the gold standard for disaster preparedness across all industries. By indicating how quickly a business, from grocery store to bank, can re-open, the community can better plan its recovery. Waffle House is actually regarded by FEMA as one of the top four corporations when it comes to disaster response (the other three are Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s…and they don’t even serve hash browns). Their disaster management plan includes on-site and portable generators as well as “jump teams” of workers and supplies, which are transported in from unafflicted outside areas thus allowing local staff to focus on their own homes and families.
Simply put, Waffle House is the standard bearer for overcoming disasters of all types.
This was such a great read, Daisy. I love learning random things in story form.
Thanks dear Karin
More beautiful observation Daisy 🙏🏼❤️. And it makes me ridiculously happy to now know that breakfast at any time is part of America’s labour history. Not just-because.
I find it moving too. Imagine, opening at 2am to serve people on their way to shifts at meatpacking plants. I started thinking about the role these old-fashioned eating places play when someone told me that these days Waffle House is famous for being open 24-hours a day. They stay open no matter what. After a hurricane, or in a fire, everyone goes to Waffle House. It's a thing, apparently, especially in the South.
This is from WaHo's website: Before the days of COVID-19, the only things certain in the world were death, taxes, and Waffle House being open. It became so synonymous with never closing that it even earned a FEMA designation. The Waffle House Index started when former Head of FEMA Craig Fugate said, in response to a 2011 tornado during which two WaHo locations remained open, “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad.”
The Waffle House Index went on to become an unofficial metric to inform disaster response based on WaHo’s top-of-the-line reputation for disaster preparation and either remaining open or reopening quickly after a catastrophe.
There are three levels, which indicate the level of operations and supplies following the natural disaster, whatever it may be: What’s so remarkable about the Waffle House Index is that it has set the gold standard for disaster preparedness across all industries. By indicating how quickly a business, from grocery store to bank, can re-open, the community can better plan its recovery. Waffle House is actually regarded by FEMA as one of the top four corporations when it comes to disaster response (the other three are Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s…and they don’t even serve hash browns). Their disaster management plan includes on-site and portable generators as well as “jump teams” of workers and supplies, which are transported in from unafflicted outside areas thus allowing local staff to focus on their own homes and families.
Simply put, Waffle House is the standard bearer for overcoming disasters of all types.
Fab read! Thank you so much! Plus: when it comes to the long-suffering diner waitress, you are not alone :)
Je suis that waitress