How Waffle House saves lives

'Supersaf' AhmedMia, Ali Spagnola and Mehdi 'ElectroBOOM' Sadaghdar discuss a question about the restaurant chain that helps a government agency.

GUESTS:

HOST: Tom Scott.
QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe.

EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin.
GRAPHICS: Chris Hanel at Support Class. Assistant: Dillon Pentz.
FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.

[jpe]

FEMA tracks Waffle House more because they (as a corporation) have excellent disaster preparedness, with on-site backup generators, contingency plans out the wazoo, they will pre-position ice and food supplies ahead of storms to provide when supply chains are cut, they will have ‘jump teams’ of staff with supplies to come in after an emergency or disaster so that local workers can focus on their own families and homes, in general they (along with Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s) are the businesses best prepared to weather a storm or disaster, and be ready to provide in the immediate aftermath.

[xXRedTheDragonXx]

I recently did some research work with FEMA and the National Hurricane Center. Out of curiosity, I asked about the Waffle House index. It is 100% a joke and not used for anything serious at all, and I was told that it was "an office joke that the public found out about". But, it turns out that FEMA does actually look up to certain companies like Waffle House, Home Depot, and Walmart because of their disaster preparedness plans. These places go above and beyond when it comes to disaster preparedness, with Waffle House being the most resilient overall.

Yes this is an interesting fact, but the real way Waffle House saves lives is by being open 24/7 in the winter, and letting anyone with enough change for a cup of coffee hang out in a heated building all night regardless of hygiene. A lot of these stores exist in places where shelters do not.

[JouvaMoufette]

This was the first Lateral question I listened to on the podcast where I was not only confident in the answer, but I even managed to guess the question that was about to be asked right when I heard "Waffle House"

[colinpovey]

FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, tracks how things are going at Waffle house. Waffle has 3 operating conditions: Normal, Limited menu, and closed. Under normal circumstances, Waffle Houses never close. Waffle House goes to limited menu when supplies or people have problems getting to stores. They even have car pools systems setup for employees to help get other employees to work in case of flooding, downed power lines, storms, etc.

[mekkio]

I knew this off the bat because I grew up in Virginia Beach. And during hurricane season, Waffle Houses were a God send. Your neighborhood blacked out and you've grilled every thing that could be grilled and you still need to eat? Hit the Waffle House. (7-11s were also a good backup too.) Get some waffles. Get out of the humidity and heat. Feel a little bit of civilized security. Because no matter how bad it seemed the Waffle House was still opened. As many hurricane seasons as I've lived through, I can't remember a time where the Waffle Houses where I was were closed.

[shadiester]

Fun fact: Waffle house even have jump teams that come in to help keep stores operating when there's been a disaster

[state_song_xprt]

For non-Americans: in addition to never ever closing, Waffle Houses are known the number of fights that break out there

[jimmeade]

An interesting story about Waffle House happened a few years ago in the Carolinas when there was severe flooding. Areas were put under evacuation orders, which meant that the Waffle Houses in those areas had to close. Some of those store managers had problems shutting down because they couldn't find the keys to the doors ... they hadn't locked them in years.

[AlKohaiMusic]

The sheer duality of emotions I have tied to Waffle House is unlike any other brand in my life. It was the place I would go to after doing regrettable things to my soul and my liver, but it was also the place I would do to after hurricanes. There is something so comforting about the sheer normalacy of eating a decidedly mid breakfast after seeing that the house you lived in for years was just kinda poof gone.

[RobSchellinger]

I was living in Lakeland, FL during Hurricane Irma. The Waffle House was open, despite the lack of electricity, and cooking with a limited menu. They had employees and managers from Atlanta running the place while the local employees were off taking care of their business. I had read about the Waffle House Index 20 years ago in the WSJ and this was the first time I had experienced it.
Likewise, there was a local Chinese restaurant that would be open after storms. I once ventured out right after a hurricane had passed and they were already open. It was almost like they hadn't closed.

[unlikelyraven]

The most upsetting part about this is that they all think Waffle House is a truck stop when it absolutely is NOT a truck stop

[briancjohnson]

Everyone in the USA: WE KNOW THIS! Everyone outside the USA: WTF?!

[jondough]

Many Waffle Houses are located near truck stops and/or major highways, but are not generally part of truck stops.

[gman]

As someone who lives in the southeast US it's almost weird that there are people who don't know about the waffle house index

[InvictusByz]

Waffle House is probably the ideal metric in the US for how well "extremely well prepared private entities" are responding to the disaster. If Waffle House is open, then civilian pre-emptive measures are still functional and sufficient for the disaster. If Waffle House is closed, then it can be assumed any private entity, regardless of their own preparation and precautions, is severely impacted and cannot be expected to function without aid.

[RYV]

I was just yelling in my head the whole video "It's an Index of how bad a Natural Disaster is or will be". I lived in Florida my whole life and I use the Waffle House Index to decide whether to evacuate or not. If a Waffle House near me closes before a Hurricane it is time to GTFO of town.

[YenRug]

Attended a military exchange exercise on the Florida panhandle, think it was in '97, there was a Waffle House just down the road from where we were staying. Walked there a few times in the couple of weeks we were there for, loved the chicken sandwich (fried chicken breast flattened on the hotplate, served in a burger bun) and had a huge waffle for dessert.

If they opened the chain over here and kept the same menu, I'd be dead from coronary failure within a year.

[davidm]

I was stuck in an ice/snow storm in Atlanta years ago. After sitting in stopped traffic for hours, I got out of traffic and went the opposite way. I was able to stop at a WH and get breakfast at 3AM before I continued creeping home a different way.

[AC-imhi]

As someone how lives 1/4 mile from a waffle house, I knew this instantly.