"...we aren't doing it for the sales those restaurants generate."
September 2, 2011 8:19 AM   Subscribe

When a hurricane makes landfall, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency relies on a couple of metrics to assess its destructive power. First, there is the well-known Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. Then there is what he calls the "Waffle House Index." (Via)

Accompanying Video: After the Hurricane, Waffle House to the Rescue

Professor Panos Kouvelis is mentioned in the article. Here's a YouTube video of him discussing supply chain crisis management.

Wikipedia has background: Waffle House is a restaurant chain with over 1600 locations found in 25 states in the United States. Most of the locations are in the Southern United States, where the chain remains a regional cultural icon. It is headquartered in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia, near Norcross.
posted by zarq (19 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Double. -- jessamyn



 
Background on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale.
posted by zarq at 8:21 AM on September 2, 2011


Previously.

I've never understood how a place that basically serves Eggos at a 400% markup becomes a cultural icon in the first place, much less one so vital that its hurricane-to-reopening time is measured in minutes.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:22 AM on September 2, 2011


Previously.
posted by donajo at 8:22 AM on September 2, 2011


I am just batting a thousand with the damned doubles this week. :P

Two in two days. Ugh.
posted by zarq at 8:24 AM on September 2, 2011


Via Copyranter: The Winner of the Hurricane Irene sign contest is...
posted by notyou at 8:26 AM on September 2, 2011 [2 favorites]


At least this time I learned that Waffle House has a mobile emergency response vehicle. Take that, IHOP!
posted by tommasz at 8:26 AM on September 2, 2011


:)
posted by caddis at 8:28 AM on September 2, 2011


Can we leave this thread open so we can tell Holy Zarquon how wrong he is? Waffle House is the best; the waffles are fine, but everything else on the menu is delicious. Cheese on your eggs AND on your hash browns? It's The American Way.

Oh, and back when I lived in hurricane country, the Waffle House was always the first place open. I never went though, because it was always so damn crowded.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:31 AM on September 2, 2011


Holy crap, that was serious??

Also, until this very moment I never knew Waffle House was a separate thing from IHOP.
posted by DU at 8:32 AM on September 2, 2011


"The southeast today found itself scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped, and topped by a Category 3 hurricane..."
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:33 AM on September 2, 2011 [3 favorites]


It's a reasonable thumbnail-sketch of a metric -- it requires a certain level of road infrastructure, power, plumbing/waste-disposal, and accessibility.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:33 AM on September 2, 2011 [1 favorite]




"The southeast today found itself scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped, and topped by a Category 3 hurricane..."

Bullshit. Caps are a myth, they always say they're "out," but I don't believe them.

Also, until this very moment I never knew Waffle House was a separate thing from IHOP.

IHOP is a boring chain restaurant that specializes in pancakes topped with sprinkles, whipped cream, and bullshit. Waffle House is a Southern institution, a gathering place for drunks at 2 AM, people on long road trips who need breakfast, people leaving church who aren't the Olive Garden crowd(and thank God for that). It's not exactly a third space in the way a coffee shop is, but it's close. Basically, it's 24 hours of everything that makes the South great, covered in cheese.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:40 AM on September 2, 2011 [6 favorites]


In my town, we have an IHOP and a Waffle House on the same road. Suck it, haters.

I feel like the valuable Waffle House metric should not have been disclosed so lightly. That's like letting a matter of national security leak to the public*--now, any time a place wants to be declared a National Disaster Area, Sheriff Earl will just call up Al down at the WH and be like, "FEMA. On their way. ETA 3 hours," and he'll shut down just long enough to get the Feds to pay up.

*Waffleleaks.com
posted by misha at 8:40 AM on September 2, 2011 [8 favorites]


More Waffle House Economics.
posted by chavenet at 8:42 AM on September 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


What's the name of the invisible boundary when you start seeing Cracker Barrells?
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 AM on September 2, 2011


Possibly the conflict is that I live in a Union state that inexplicably has a Waffle House presence. It has no cultural cachet here, just recently-thawed breakfast.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:43 AM on September 2, 2011


Okay, now I want the post to stay, only so that Misha's comment won't disappear. :D :D :D
posted by zarq at 8:47 AM on September 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I thought the Waffle House was a totally made up chain. You know, like Acme Supply.

It took some adjustment to know it is a real place.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:52 AM on September 2, 2011


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