![]() A close relationship with distributor US Foods allows Waffle House to quickly stock up additional food into warehouses with trucks ready to deliver in the onset of a storm. So Hugo was the first big storm where we put things together to keep operations moving quickly.”Īs a storm develops, Waffle House leaders at the Atlanta headquarters open the “storm center” which follows storm movements, and acts as a communications hub directing jump teams and construction resources.Ī key part of the team’s success is stocking up supplies immediately following a hurricane season. Any hurricane in the Atlantic is going to have an impact on us," said Pat Warner, Waffle House’s director of public relations. “For some, us being open brought a sense of normalcy, offering them basic necessities in an area that’s destroyed.”īeing able to get restaurants up and running in the aftermath of a disaster is the sole function of the jump team, which was designed 30 years ago after Category 4 Hurricane Hugo made landfall in the southeastern United Stated and caused $10 billion worth of damages. “Most of the people that came in, they were eating their first hot meal in days,” Wentworth said. ![]() ![]() The Callaway restaurant was the only store not to reopen within four days because of its caved-in roof. Portable toilets were transported to restaurants without plumbing services.Ĭonstruction sources were contacted and mobilized to heavily damaged restaurants.Īnd about 40 food trucks rolled into the area to stock freezers.īurgers and hash browns were ready to serve in 10 of the 11 stores caught in Michael’s crosshairs. Stores without employees had jump team members fill in roles while local workers attended to personal matters. Water-less stores were given hundreds of bottles of water for drinking and boiling. ![]() Powerless stores were provided generators and gasoline, and propane for the grills. The jump team sprang into action - its mission: Get the lights on and the grills simmering in the affected restaurants. The rain bands of Hurricane Michael had just cleared the area, and a quietness hung over the town and Panama Beach like an uneasy haze. While Waffle House might be the agency's most well-known partner, FEMA said in 2017 that it has similar relationships with a variety of other private-sector partners like Target, Walmart, Wegmans, Macy's, Walgreens, Lowes and Safeway.It was the kind of disaster Waffle House has spent 30 years preparing for. "Our planning gets us ready for the storm and so once it has passed our managers can see what's going on in the area and respond right after an emergency." "There is logistics planning in staging and getting additional supplies and manpower into an affected area right after a storm, however it's our show up that sets us apart from other companies," Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer wrote in a FEMA blog post about the company's response to Hurricane Irene. How a business like Waffle House, which boasts its own storm center that it activates when necessary, plans for a natural disaster is not that different from how a government agency would plan for the same event. ![]() RELATED: Hurricane Ian strengthens before SC landfall FL rescues continue as death toll risesįugate, who helmed FEMA for eight years, is known for his Waffle House Matrix that has been used internally to gauge how the restaurants are faring: Stores that are open and offering a full menu are green, stores that are open and serving a limited menu are yellow, and stores that are closed are red. ![]()
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