[Ben Kesslen at Quartz]

"Waffle House, the iconic American restaurant chain with over 1,600 locations known for cooking up Southern breakfast food, has developed an advanced storm center FEMA consults with."

Stores in the path of Milton were closed in advance of the storm, which is rare for Waffle House, which is often the last store standing.

It's been sophisticated about storm predictions and response since Katrina:

"The chain also developed the Waffle House Storm Index, which was started after former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said, “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad. That’s where you go to work.”"

As Pat Warner, a member of "the Waffle House crisis management team" said in the article, it's not about the extra sales Waffle House gets when it does re-open, often using generators and other emergency equipment. It's more to do with how this integrates the stores with their communities. They wouldn't do it if there wasn't a positive uplift for the business, but it comes across as a genuine desire to help.

#Society

[Link]