How Waffle House's hurricane response team prepares for disaster

[jmyrlefuller]

https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/finance/news/waffle-houses-hurricane-response-team-prepares-disaster-184844452.html

by Ethan Wolfe-Mann
August 25, 2017

One of the ways the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) measures hurricane damage is by the Waffle House Index. Waffle House, a popular 24-hour fast food chain in the Southeast, has a unique ability to operate solely on gas if necessary, so a closed Waffle House is often tantamount to disaster.

And while we won’t know yet how Hurricane Harvey will fare on the index, the attitude at Waffle Houses across Texas has been calm. The company’s staff has been preparing for months.

“We have our own special disaster teams and generators waiting to be shipped,” said one Waffle House employee in Galveston, Tex. “We’re open up until the city makes us close, probably later on tonight. As soon as it’s over we’ll be right back open.”

Waffle House’s resiliency is a great source of satisfaction for people. The Galveston employee told Yahoo Finance proudly, “When nothing else is open I’m going to tell you the Waffle House is open.”

Over the years, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate noticed this phenomenon following hurricane damage and developed the Waffle House Index. “Green” is full menu, “yellow” is partial menu, and “red” means there may be no Waffle House left.

(excerpt)

[Wingnut]

There is always a bright spot and money to be made when misery comes a calling. 

[RoosGirl]

[Gefn]

@Hopalong Ginsberg

Waffle House ping.

I wish there were Waffle Houses in NJ

[Wingnut]

@Hopalong Ginsberg

Waffle House ping.

I wish there were Waffle Houses in NJ

They would tear them down as confederate monuments.

[Gefn]

They would tear them down as confederate monuments.

Nah, we got White Castles.
I wish we had IN And Out Burgers too.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Nah, we got White Castles.
I wish we had IN And Out Burgers too.

We had a Sambo's when I was growing up in the midwest.

[Suppressed]

We had a Sambo's when I was growing up in the midwest.

I loved Sambo's.  With murals on the wall illustrating the story about the little Indian boy and a tiger.

But some people think tigers come from Africa, so ignorance won.

[RoosGirl]

There was at least one Sambo's in South Florida.

[RoosGirl]

@Hopalong Ginsberg

Waffle House ping.

I wish there were Waffle Houses in NJ

Have you ever eaten at one?  You really aren't missing anything.

[Gefn]

Have you ever eaten at one?  You really aren't missing anything.

I use to like eating at them every summer when we would drive down to Florida

Use to couNt the the South of the Border billboards

[RoosGirl]

I use to like eating at them every summer when we would drive down to Florida

Use to couNt the the South of the Border billboards

LOL.  You can still count the South of the Border billboards. :)

The Waffle House closest to us closed.  I guess that type of food just isn't my favorite thing.  I ate there once, sat up at the counter and watched how they cooked their hash browns.  It was the hash browns inside a round, metal ring and once or twice during cooking they would dump a big ladle of oil inside the ring.

[Wingnut]

I loved Sambo's.  With murals on the wall illustrating the story about the little Indian boy and a tiger.

But some people think tigers come from Africa, so ignorance won.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe....."

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I loved Sambo's.  With murals on the wall illustrating the story about the little Indian boy and a tiger.

But some people think tigers come from Africa, so ignorance won.

I was a little boy at the time.  I remember the theme as a story about a little boy from a place very far away, with a life very different from mine.   I don't remember anything about anyone trying to convince me that I was any better or worse than that other little boy (crap, I can still say "boy", right?), we just lived in different worlds.  I would have simply called it "neat", like that movie that came out about the same time about a young man in a galaxy far, far away.  Different.  Neat.

There's no place in today's world for a Sambo's, but I have to wonder -- is that good or bad?

[Hopalong Ginsberg]

@Hopalong Ginsberg

Waffle House ping.

I wish there were Waffle Houses in NJ

I hear you. Thanks for the ping - amazing.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I'd never heard of the Waffle House Index, but I think it's pretty cool.

I'm a fan of "alternative" economic indicators such as this.  I'm actually developing one of my own, the TBiP.

I got my dogs a couple years before the housing market blew up.  Every night during our walk we would go by an apartment complex with a tennis court and a pond.  People would be out late playing tennis, and there were regularly several tennis balls in the pond.  After the housing market crashed I noticed a steep reduction in the number of Tennis Balls in Pond.  Maybe because people had less time to play tennis, or chose to live in (cheaper) apartments without a tennis court, or fetched their balls out of the pond instead of just buying new ones.  But there seemed to be a correlation.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the CBOE, CMT, and NYSE, but if in the meantime you'd like to trade on TBiP futures, just send me the money and I'll let you know how you did.

[Gefn]

I never heard of a "Waffle HOuse index" but I have heard of a "Dead Cat Bounce"

There's also a "Big Mac Index"


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

@InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

[edpc]

The flooding might give them some unexpected company.

[Polly Ticks]

LOL.  You can still count the South of the Border billboards. :)

The Waffle House closest to us closed.  I guess that type of food just isn't my favorite thing.  I ate there once, sat up at the counter and watched how they cooked their hash browns.  It was the hash browns inside a round, metal ring and once or twice during cooking they would dump a big ladle of oil inside the ring.

Rookie mistake.  You gotta order those scattered.

[edpc]

LOL.  You can still count the South of the Border billboards. :)

Pedro Sez........

[Suppressed]

Have you ever eaten at one?  You really aren't missing anything.

I disagree, @RoosGirl.  (And I ate at one on Saturday.)

The key is to sit at "the bar," and go to one that's busy, at a busy time, in the South, where a dozen staff are flying around in organized chaos, with constant banter and teasing and apologies.  It's definitely worth the price of admission!

[Gefn]

I disagree, @RoosGirl.  (And I ate at one on Saturday.)

The key is to sit at "the bar," and go to one that's busy, at a busy time, in the South, where a dozen staff are flying around in organized chaos, with constant banter and teasing and apologies.  It's definitely worth the price of admission!

I could write  a screenplay in one.   

[edpc]

I disagree, @RoosGirl.  (And I ate at one on Saturday.)

The key is to sit at "the bar," and go to one that's busy, at a busy time, in the South, where a dozen staff are flying around in organized chaos, with constant banter and teasing and apologies.  It's definitely worth the price of admission!

And get the All Star Special!

[Polly Ticks]

And get the All Star Special!

Oh, yeah!
 

[Wingnut]

The flooding might give them some unexpected company.

Gator Tail is good.  Tastes like chicken