Getting a Cease and Desist from Waffle House

Editor's Note: This post is written in good faith and with a spirit of humor and admiration. It recounts events between myself, Waffle House, its legal and marketing teams, and affiliated parties. Nothing here is meant with malice, and it was a pleasure corresponding with a breakfast chain I'm quite fond of. In late September of 2024, Hurricane Helene was spiraling towards Florida, my home state. My university had cancelled classes for the week, and while people were barricading their homes, I was spending time reverse-engineering Waffle House’s website. Why, you may ask? If you’ve never heard of the Waffle House Index, you’re in for a bit of weirdly fascinating disaster response lore. The Waffle House Index is an (incredibly) unofficial tool used by FEMA to gauge the severity of natural disasters. Why Waffle House? Because they’re infamous for not closing even during the worst of storms. If the House is closed, that means things are getting real. The problem with the Waffle House I ... Read full article.