The article addresses this. Referring to the origination of the formal index, "The restaurants eventually became a key feature on a color-coded map that his team provided to help the public and local officials identify where storm damage was most severe."

It's not FEMA's job to develop knowledge about coming storms anyways. NOAA does that. FEMA coordinates the preparation for and response to a disaster

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As a southerner who has also pondered this, I think it's simply the basic nature of the menu and local nature of the employees.

Food is basically just pre-made batter, eggs, potatoes, and processed meat; all of which holds well and only requires limited refrigeration. Staff is pretty basic crew: Cooks and customers can order directly at the register if waiter isn't available.

Add to that a culture of staying open at all costs and there you go.

They have jump teams that come in and help get things back up and running. Since the training of the staff is standardized, jump team members can staff the restaurant and get it back up and running while the regular employees take care of personal matters.

Because 1) it's standardized beyond local / state political footprint, and

2) it's measuring basic availability of resources like water, electricity, natural gas, but also availability of food items like eggs, meat, bread. Plus labor.

And 3) in extreme cases, whether the (relatively uniform) building still stands and is occupied/usable.

Here'e an old article about how they do it.[1]

The Waffle House storm center.[2]

They have an emergency menu mode. Only a few items are available, and those are all ones which can be prepared rapidly in bulk.

Waffle House locations deliberately do not use any systems which require continuous Internet connectivity.

[1] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/waffle-house-stay-open-...

[2] https://x.com/anothercohen/status/1843844655743688806

In much of the Waffle House footprint, public transit is nonexistent or minimal and would not serve as a good indicator. There are certainly exceptions (Atlanta comes to mind), but in general, no.

In the south, the term "maple syrup" is shorthand for "maple-flavored sugar-based syrup-like product"

Biscuits and gravy are really the only heritage Southern food in that list. Hashbrowns came from diner culture (northeast), waffles came from Belgium (New york and the midwest), maple syrup came from the sugar maple range (some parts of appalachia but mostly the northeast)

Early southerners would have put honey or molasses on their pancakes

They don’t even call it maple syrup on the menu, you can rest easy. It’s exactly what you think it is, corn syrup.

A huge portion of their customers are late night drunks. They aren’t trying to win awards for their cuisine.

It's likely maple-flavoured corn syrup, so rest easy :)

Well, what else do you suggest that I put on my fried corn mush?

As others have noted, they have teams of people they bring in to staff the place in case of disaster. They are, as far as I can tell, very good to their employees, who are mostly low-skill workers dealing with an often drunk and raucous clientele. But if you want to get paid in cash every week, they will do it.

Waffle House isn't a great meal, even for a cheap diner, and it's not meant to be. It's hot and freshly cooked, though, and in the middle of a disaster that's something you might not be able to get at home (cf. the Mellow Mushroom owner in Asheville giving out pizza a couple of days after Helene - people like the pizza, but the quotes were all saying "it was just so nice to eat something hot"). And it's always open.

People starting companies who want to build loyalty: look at them. And learn. There's no southerner who doesn't know that you can get a cheap, fresh, and adequate meal from WH when everyone else is closed. You don't have to wonder if it's a 24-hour location: they all are. You see the sign, you can go.

Who sued them over this? staff that had been endangered? waffle house seems to be proud of this WHI and mentions it on their website even. [1]

[1] https://www.wafflehouse.com/how-to-measure-a-storms-fury-one...

Kinda similar to Barbara Streisand effect.

Goodhart's Law. https://xkcd.com/2899/

It might be worth reading the article! Although a sibling comment up the page linked to a clearer description of WaHo’s disaster operations [0]. Since the chain’s operations are radically standardized, they assemble “jump teams” of repair workers and operators from out-of-region. Those are the ones operating the restaurants til local staff can get back.

[0] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/waffle-house-stay-open-...