Waffle House closes 365 locations across the U.S.(wafb.com)
wafb.com
Waffle House closes 365 locations across the U.S.
https://www.wafb.com/2020/03/24/waffle-house-closes-locations-across-us/
49 comments
Waffle House is so good. I was on a road trip between New Orleans and Atlanta and stopped at a Waffle House in the middle of Alabama. Biggest surprise in terms of expectations and food quality. It's like the In-n-out of breakfast food.
If I've been on the road for a week already and it's after midnight and I just spent 11 hours rebuilding the server closet of my organization's Oak Ridge, TN location and you're waiting the graveyard counter at Waffle House and you bring my meal with a smile and call me "Hun"... well, you get a $40 tip on my $7.95 bill. Thank you again.
The hash browns are amazing.
They are usually open 24 hours and there are reasons why we have a Waffle House Index.
Previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15105662
They are usually open 24 hours and there are reasons why we have a Waffle House Index.
Previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15105662
I highly recommend either smothered and covered or all the way. They’re one of my favorite eateries, and working the grill for a short stint is on my bucket list to buy a few shares of stock to frame on the wall (their stock is private and can only be bought by employees).
Smothered, covered, and peppered and I'm the happiest man...
I thought if too many different people bought a stock, you had to make it public. Is that true? How do they keep their stock private?
It's a good question. I don't have access to their ESOP docs, all I know is there's about 10 million shares outstanding. More research required on my part.
I've been on the West Coast so long I've forgotten the lingo. How do you order it with onions?
Smothered is onions, smothered and covered is onions and melted cheese.
https://www.wafflehouse.com/waffle-house-menu/
https://www.wafflehouse.com/waffle-house-menu/
Smothered is my standard order. Or I get two orders: One plain, and one smothered.
You can't have too many hash browns. That's just not a thing.
(Please do not actually take my dietary recommendations. My body isn't normal and eating like me might kill a normal person.)
You can't have too many hash browns. That's just not a thing.
(Please do not actually take my dietary recommendations. My body isn't normal and eating like me might kill a normal person.)
> You can't have too many hash browns. That's just not a thing.
One hundred percent agree with you. That said, finishing off a triple topped is enough to make a shred of doubt cross your mind. You then just have to wash that doubt away with a refill of Mr. Pibb and move on to the bacon and peanut butter waffle.
One hundred percent agree with you. That said, finishing off a triple topped is enough to make a shred of doubt cross your mind. You then just have to wash that doubt away with a refill of Mr. Pibb and move on to the bacon and peanut butter waffle.
You know, I have an appetite. Absolutely. But once I have polished off three sets of hash browns, I'm usually good.
You win this one. I"m not even going to compete.
You win this one. I"m not even going to compete.
The order itself is more of an ingrained habit from my college years than anything else. Even when I consciously choose something else the few times I go, I still end up spitting out that order before I even register what I've said.
Finishing it though is less about appetite and more about stubborn refusal to accept defeat and acknowledge the loss of my twenties.
That said, a triple hashbrown is nothing. My potato stomach is still going strong and near bottomless. What puts you over the edge is the chili. With a triple foundation to support it, they load up far more than you'd get with three single topped orders.
Finishing it though is less about appetite and more about stubborn refusal to accept defeat and acknowledge the loss of my twenties.
That said, a triple hashbrown is nothing. My potato stomach is still going strong and near bottomless. What puts you over the edge is the chili. With a triple foundation to support it, they load up far more than you'd get with three single topped orders.
Oh, man, when I was 17, I could eat a 2000 calorie snack and not gain weight.
Bodies change as you get older.
Bodies change as you get older.
Entirely too true. I've acknowledged my bodies inability to handle successive all-nighters without incurring the wrath of a splitting headache, and adjusted my behavior to appease it.
And adjusted my (overall) eating habits to minimize heartburn (not an easy feat, given the type of Italian cooking I grew up around).
But so far, my mind has refused to cede authority over my once-in-a-blue-moon Waffle House trips to my body's newfound limitations. It's definitely a battle that's going to be lost soon, but not quite yet.
And adjusted my (overall) eating habits to minimize heartburn (not an easy feat, given the type of Italian cooking I grew up around).
But so far, my mind has refused to cede authority over my once-in-a-blue-moon Waffle House trips to my body's newfound limitations. It's definitely a battle that's going to be lost soon, but not quite yet.
I'm a scattered, smothered, covered, peppered, capped, topped kind of guy, with copious Tabasco on top.
Someone is livin' dangerously.
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chunked, smothered and covered.
I've always said "You don't go to Waffle House, you end up at Waffle House."
And never does that end up being a mistake.
We all have that one place that we secretly love but keep on the down low for risk of being chided by our more "sophisticated" company. For many that is McDonalds or similar.
For me, it's Waffle House.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bct8stbZafI
For me, it's Waffle House.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bct8stbZafI
I don't get waffle house. I took in all the hype, and when i finally made it to one was disappointed. I had the steak and eggs. The steak was pretty bad, the eggs were eggs, the coffee passable. Not a fan.
honestly think it's a mental thing and has nothing to do with the food. and the fact that it's omni-present and always open...
people also swear by popeyes down here. and yet i like chick-fil-a better.
people also swear by popeyes down here. and yet i like chick-fil-a better.
A lot of these articles announcing closings don’t make it clear whether it’s temporary or permanent. This one is no exception.
While I would assume it’s temporary, I’m confused why this is front page on HN. Several businesses are closing temporarily due to Coronavirus. Not sure why this is news.
Unless these are permanent closings, which would be (sad) news indeed.
While I would assume it’s temporary, I’m confused why this is front page on HN. Several businesses are closing temporarily due to Coronavirus. Not sure why this is news.
Unless these are permanent closings, which would be (sad) news indeed.
It's news because, as pointed out by a number of other comments, Waffle House is notorious for staying open even in dire circumstances.
Not sure anybody here has seen more dire circumstances than what we’re seeing today, so still doesn’t seem that surprising.
Maybe it could be argued that these closings suggest that indeed these are the direst of circumstances, but I think that was already known a week or two ago.
Maybe it could be argued that these closings suggest that indeed these are the direst of circumstances, but I think that was already known a week or two ago.
No. It's news because people are using their brains for hipster drama and not critical thinking.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22682636
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22682636
I bet the wafflers are making a disaster plan for pandemics and they will be ready to come back soon.
It’s relevant in this case because Waffle House closings are used to measure the severity of disasters. It’s called the Waffle House Index: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
related previous HN discussion about the Waffle House Index https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15105662
OK, now we're fucked[1].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
> While more than 300 locations have closed, 1,627 remain open.
From one of the article's citations[0]:
“They [Waffle House] have good risk management plans in place and are great examples of how their supply chains get affected in two different ways. On the one hand, your own supply chain is exposed,” he continued. “At the same time, your stores are supposed to be the first to react and provide the basic supplies. Your supply goes down, while your demand goes up.”
In the context of this pandemic, the essential components for treating patients (N95 masks, respirators, tests, other PPE) require supply chains that span across multiple countries; of which are dealing with their own responses and can't act as net exporters of these materials. The US response of tapping into its stockpile may give a faster immediate response, but there's practically zero domestic manufacturing capacity at a time when they're needed most. Governor Cuomo of New York said the federal government offered 400 ventilators, when the state needed nearly two orders of magnitude more than that [1]. Flattening the curve will take much longer if patients and providers don't have access to these tools.
[0] https://www.ehstoday.com/emergency-management/article/219068...
[1] https://twitter.com/MichaelSkolnik/status/124248080874252288...
“They [Waffle House] have good risk management plans in place and are great examples of how their supply chains get affected in two different ways. On the one hand, your own supply chain is exposed,” he continued. “At the same time, your stores are supposed to be the first to react and provide the basic supplies. Your supply goes down, while your demand goes up.”
In the context of this pandemic, the essential components for treating patients (N95 masks, respirators, tests, other PPE) require supply chains that span across multiple countries; of which are dealing with their own responses and can't act as net exporters of these materials. The US response of tapping into its stockpile may give a faster immediate response, but there's practically zero domestic manufacturing capacity at a time when they're needed most. Governor Cuomo of New York said the federal government offered 400 ventilators, when the state needed nearly two orders of magnitude more than that [1]. Flattening the curve will take much longer if patients and providers don't have access to these tools.
[0] https://www.ehstoday.com/emergency-management/article/219068...
[1] https://twitter.com/MichaelSkolnik/status/124248080874252288...
To be fair, many of those closures may be legally mandated. These are crazy times.
> to determine the effect of a storm
"Hurricane" Corona, based on projections, is estimated to claim more lives in FL than all other hurricanes combined.
Could be hype or truth, but both storms and pandemics require lots of prep and recovery.
Could be hype or truth, but both storms and pandemics require lots of prep and recovery.
I always thought Florida would take the brunt due to its demographics, but then the casual attitude towards Spring break strengthened that thought. Do you have a link to that projection?
They also both have major impacts on supply chains but in different ways. Although those with more global dependence are at much greater risk here.
Glad I was not the only one that this came top of mind to.
On international waffle day, of all days!
https://nationaltoday.com/international-waffle-day/
https://nationaltoday.com/international-waffle-day/
damn, that's dark.
Before today, the record number of Waffle House closures at one time was 107 (Hurricane Katrina, 2005)
We need a map of the locations.
Waffle house is delicious, but they've got a lot of locations around the country. so I think they'll be fine
I don't think they have any left in Minnesota anymore. They closed the one closest to me at least a year ago.
I just saw that comment today, and now this. Things are going downhill fast.
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