How do you measure the terrible power of a hurricane, like Hurricane Helene, which hit North Florida? Don’t just think about the Saffir-Simpson scale. Notice the color of the lights at the Waffle House, Southeast’s favorite restaurant.
When they are green you can breathe: it serves the full menu. If they are yellow, there is a problem: generator power and low supply. And if it’s red, the roadside restaurant is closed and you’re in trouble.
“You get there and the Waffle House is closed?” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said. “That’s really bad. That’s where you’re going to work.”
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No food chain in the U.S. may be more vulnerable to hurricanes than Waffle House, whose yellow and black signs hang above 1,600 outlets across the country, the vast majority of them in the Southeast. So since Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005, destroying a number of restaurants, the company has embraced a post-disaster strategy to serve its customers.
Aftermath of Helene: Shocking images, live videos of Hurricane Helene causing damage in Florida
Popular restaurant chain Waffle House has a hurricane playbook
It even includes a playbook on how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve when there is gas but no electricity, or a generator but no ice. The key: limiting the number of meals it serves until power is restored, even if dozens of others are on its laminated menus.
Waffle House executives acknowledge that sales could double or even more if a storm hits, but emphasize that the strategy is more about goodwill, not revenue. Moreover, there is only so much profit to be had from hash browns, eggs, coffee and the waffles of the same name.
Waffle House wannabes in Palm Beach County will have quite a ride ahead of them if they want post-storm comfort. The closest are in Port St. Lucie and Fort Lauderdale.
Tom Elia is an editor at The Palm Beach Post, overseeing coverage of public safety, the courts and Palm Beach County’s northern and western communities. You can reach him at telia@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Hurricane Helene: Some use Georgia’s Waffle House Index
