When the weather forecast turns ugly, as with Hurricanes Helene or Milton, families in Florida do the same thing as any neighbor’s child: they look for information that will help them understand how serious the threat is. They have the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to find out. There’s also Waffle House, a veteran US restaurant chain famous for its southern breakfasts. The first is expected. Not the second. But Waffle House has become such a popular benchmark for measuring the extent of natural disasters that it even has its own index.

Something that is particularly popular and that even the management pays attention to.

What does Waffle House say (and do)? A question like this is what many families in the United States ask themselves when a storm or hurricane like Helene or Milton approaches. Interestingly, Waffle House is not the name of a weather agency or a crisis management center. No. Founded in 1955, it is a restaurant chain with approximately 2,000 locations spread throughout the southern United States and the Gulf Coast. Over time, he’s gained a reputation for southern breakfasts and something else: His businesses remain open regardless. It’s better if it’s never said.

Why this? If your stores are closed, things have gotten really bad and a major hurricane is approaching. Since it usually doesn’t take long to reopen after storms, if a Waffle House restaurant remains closed, it’s a sign that the damage to the surrounding area is extensive. It is so effective at both that over the years it has gained a reputation as a reliable indicator of the extent of some natural disasters. In the case of Milton, for example, it chose to close many of its locations in Florida before the hurricane made landfall.

Waffle House Index. A few decades ago, Craig Fugate was surveying the devastation left behind by Hurricane Charley in Florida when he went hungry. While looking for a place to eat, he came across a Waffle House offering an abbreviated menu. This wouldn’t be an anecdote if Fugate’s team hadn’t noticed over time that this scene was being repeated elsewhere. Even though they were in communities without electricity or water, they found a store from the same chain was open. The idea for the Waffle House Index, an unofficial reference to the size of storms, emerged.

Over time, Fugate became successful at FEMA, an organization he managed, and continued to use the distinctive reference of southern breakfast restaurants. The AP recalls that in 2011, when Fugate was heading FEMA, a Missouri city was hit by a devastating tornado. Two Waffle Houses remained open.

Three colors, one message. Over time, the index became a reference. One with its own color code. As Waffle House explains, it uses a three-tone system: green, yellow and red, more or less like traffic lights. Green describes the chain’s locations with a full menu; This means that it is possible to find exactly the same food on a normal day, without a storm or hurricane. Why is this important? Because it reveals that “damage in the region” is “limited”. If you can eat the usual waffles, it is because of electricity, gas, materials, etc. is that it is available. Things are going well.

When an establishment is given the color yellow, its customers are notified that they have a menu available but it is “limited.” What does this mean, other than maybe they can’t eat their favorite pancakes? Food stocks are low and the facility may operate with the help of an electric generator. Finally, if the establishment is marked in red, it means it remains closed. The reading is again intuitive: Your curtains are still down because there is “serious damage” or “unsafety” in the environment.

Closed? Bad news. The index’s most striking comment was made some time ago by Fugate himself: “You come in and Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad. You go there to work.” It is now very easy to follow the index. The company itself explains this on the networks. Over the past few days he has frequently updated his maps in color to communicate the influence of Helen and Milton. In fact, following the logic of the index and looking at its maps, it becomes clear which areas are afraid of receiving Milton’s worst punishment. Or who suffer the most in their aftermath? They will be full of red dots. Without further ado.

The chain boasts that it is one of the references FEMA officials look at, along with others such as the Saffir-Simpson scale, to assess the destructive power of a storm or hurricane. The federal agency itself recognizes that local businesses provide a valuable clue about the impact of natural disasters on society. In addition to Waffle House, there are companies that stand out with their responses to disasters, such as Wal-Mart and Lowe’s.

But… How is this possible? Because a lot has to do with how Waffle House responds to storms. The company has 1,600 to 1,900 locations distributed throughout the South and Gulf Coast, an area particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. In fact, Katrina made him realize how much exposure he had in 2005: One hundred businesses were forced to close, and seven were destroyed. The company also confirmed something equally or even more interesting: Stores that managed to reopen quickly ended up being “inundated with customers.”

So the chain decided to “strengthen” its “crisis management processes.” As the company itself explains, its executives created a disaster manual, purchased portable generators and a mobile command center, and had its staff become emergency contacts. It’s even equipped with its own Storm Center, which it activates when necessary, and a “strategy guide” for extreme scenarios. Here he explains topics such as the importance of adapting the menu or how to work when there is gas but no electricity.

Meteorology… and the dollar. Waffle House does not hide that being the first or one of the first to open its doors benefits its turnover. And quite so. An article published in 2011 Wall Street Magazine Sharing by the company allows businesses to double or triple their sales volume after the storm. Does this mean more benefits? Pat Warner, from the firm’s crisis management team, said the relationship is not that clear because the company also needs to strengthen its spending in these situations.

“If you take into account all the resources we deployed, the equipment we rented, the additional supplies we trucked in, the additional labor we called in, the accommodations they would have… you can see that we did not do that for the sales these restaurants generated,” he argued.

It is undeniable that this strategy implemented against storms and hurricanes has turned into a very effective marketing campaign. The solidly Southern breakfast chain can boast of being one of the few businesses open when people need a place to shelter and eat. And to serve as a reference for upcoming dangers or their scope after they have passed.

Reference for management. Perhaps its greatest achievement is that the Waffle House index is not just an unofficial indicator for the neighbors of the southern states of the United States. The management itself takes this into account. AP News recalls that Fugate continued to use the color map when he arrived at FEMA. A few days ago, Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp personally visited the Waffle House Storm Center and took a few photos. “Thank you to the operations team for their great work,” X later wrote on his account.

FEMA acknowledges on its official website that the Waffle House index offers a valuable indicator for assessing “damage in a neighborhood” after a storm, and media such as ABC News or AP, one of the chain’s allies of the agency, advise companies to assess how businesses will respond in areas affected by major storms or hurricanes. They are looking.

Pictures | Sarah Stierch (Flickr), Waffle House (X) and Milla Paglia (Flickr)

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