“Waffle House Index” shows Florida closed as Hurricane Milton approaches

Hurricane Milton Storm approaches Central Florida, where a powerful storm is set to make landfall late Wednesday, and Floridians have been monitoring the Waffle House Index for impacts to their area as the storm moves in and begins the recovery process.

Waffle House, a popular restaurant chain with numerous locations from the mid-Atlantic to Florida and across the Gulf Coast, serves an area prone to hurricanes and other severe weather. As a result, Waffle House prioritized trying to reopen as quickly as possible in the wake of disasters and the Waffle House Index was developed as an indicator of a storm’s impact on a given area.

Hurricane Milton, classified as a Category 4 hurricane as of Wednesday afternoon, is expected to make landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast and bring “life-threatening” storm surge as well as high winds. It is then expected to track across central Florida to the state’s Atlantic coast.

As of 2 PM EST on Wednesday, the Waffle House Index showed closures throughout Tampa Bay-St. St. Petersburg area along with Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast. Across Central Florida, closures were reported in the Orlando, Ocala and Daytona areas — although Waffle Houses in the Miami and Gainesville areas remained open.

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“Our mission remains to keep our associates out of harm’s way,” Njiri Bose, Waffle House’s vice president of food safety and public relations, told FOX Business in a statement. “Accordingly, in areas expected to be the hardest hit, we are preemptively closing restaurants.” “With the goal of reopening as soon as it is safe to do so to serve the communities that have been there for us over the years.”

“Locations in areas that are expected to be in the path of the storm and are likely to sustain significant damage, or where mandatory evacuation orders have been issued, are where preventive closures are in place as a safety precaution.”

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What does the Waffle House indicator mean?

There are three levels in the Waffle House Index, which correspond to the level of service available at a particular restaurant and can also provide insight into the extent of damage and whether power is online in the area.

Green indicates that Waffle House is serving a full menu, which means the restaurant has power and is experiencing little or no damage.

Yellow means the Waffle House restaurant’s menu is limited because the restaurant has lost power, is run by a generator, or is low on food supplies.

Red indicates that the restaurant is closed, which may be due to evacuation orders before the storm or severe damage sustained during the storm and unsafe conditions.

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The Waffle House Index was developed in 2011. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via/Getty Images)

Waffle House originated in 2011 with Craig Fugit, then the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), after a devastating tornado tore through Joplin, Missouri, and two of the chain’s locations remained open.

“If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad. This is where you go to work,” Fugate said of the Waffle House Index as an indicator of damage from a natural disaster.

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