CNN reports that the Waffle House Index was the brainchild of Craig Fugate (above), a former FEMA employee. In 2004, Fugate and his team went to Florida to evaluate the damage caused by Hurricane Charley (per the Department of Commerce), which was classified as a Category 4 storm. When they got hungry, they found that Waffle House was the only business that was open. They continued driving along and realized that most Waffle Houses were operating while other restaurants were shuttered. The same thing occurred when other hurricanes hit Florida that same year. As explained by ABC News, once a Waffle House is open, its goal is to stay open, no matter what.
This prompted Fugate to create the Waffle House Index. According to Yahoo! News, if a location is "Green," then it's operating normally. If it's "Yellow," some menu items are unavailable. If it's "Red," the restaurant is closed. If the Waffle House is closed, it can be presumed the area has been hit especially hard during a natural disaster. However, there is a misconception that the Waffle House Index is used before a disaster actually hits to predict its severity. In reality, the index is used to stipulate how badly an area was affected (via CNN).
Popular Science reports that it's for this reason that the Waffle House Index is not considered scientific. Nonetheless, Waffle House has embraced the role they play with FEMA. This includes investing in storm-tracking technology to better predict how their operational status will be affected by a natural disaster.
