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"Everything I know about concurrency and resiliency I learned at the Waffle House" [View all]
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1168860400319946752.htmlFor the uninitiated - the Waffle House is a privately owned and VERY private chain of restaurants, predominantly in the South East.
They're 24/7/365 and mean it.
They have a reputation for emergency preparedness like no other company because they are like no other company.
A Waffle House can operate without Water, Electricity, Gas, Communications - and in some cases - even without a building.
A restaurant without water? Isn't that against Heath Code?
Yes - but Waffle House works to get variances for emergency operation - they re-configure.
In the example of no water:
i. They set up a dedicated hand-wash stations.
ii. They switch to bottled water / cans for drinks.
iii. They switch to disposable plates / cutlery et al.
iv. Their reduced menu is one that is designed to be efficient in a reduced water environment.
1. All Waffle Houses are the same and have preparedness designed in.
For example - the "Grills of Yore"™ run on both natural gas and propane so should the gas supply fail Waffle House can drop Propane Tanks at a location and just plug them in.
2. The Waffle House doesn't outsource unless it has to. It's not that they don't trust their suppliers, but in an emergency they control everything end-to-end.
They ship in refrigerated trucks, gas, propane, water, cash, and people.
3. Volunteers from non-affected areas are flown in and staged in a fleet of RVs kept a safe distance away.
Those volunteers include the CEO/COO and their direct reports.
Where are the Waffle House executives during an emergency? They're at the site of the emergency - not HQ.
If someone needs to make a decision about whether to say, cut a check for $20k to get something to open a location - in any other company that takes time and approvals.
In an emergency you don't have that luxury - so they can just cut the check then and there.
4. In the case of no building, they have a fleet of food trucks.
When a Hurricane wiped out Panama City, the Waffle House deployed food trucks and **gave away** over 2000 meals a day.
Lastly:
5. Affected workers who don't have a restaurant to go to or who have personal / familial destruction continue to get paid weekly in cash.
Who feeds our first responders and the critical infrastructure people when there's no infrastructure?
The Waffle House does.
They're 24/7/365 and mean it.
They have a reputation for emergency preparedness like no other company because they are like no other company.
A Waffle House can operate without Water, Electricity, Gas, Communications - and in some cases - even without a building.
A restaurant without water? Isn't that against Heath Code?
Yes - but Waffle House works to get variances for emergency operation - they re-configure.
In the example of no water:
i. They set up a dedicated hand-wash stations.
ii. They switch to bottled water / cans for drinks.
iii. They switch to disposable plates / cutlery et al.
iv. Their reduced menu is one that is designed to be efficient in a reduced water environment.
1. All Waffle Houses are the same and have preparedness designed in.
For example - the "Grills of Yore"™ run on both natural gas and propane so should the gas supply fail Waffle House can drop Propane Tanks at a location and just plug them in.
2. The Waffle House doesn't outsource unless it has to. It's not that they don't trust their suppliers, but in an emergency they control everything end-to-end.
They ship in refrigerated trucks, gas, propane, water, cash, and people.
3. Volunteers from non-affected areas are flown in and staged in a fleet of RVs kept a safe distance away.
Those volunteers include the CEO/COO and their direct reports.
Where are the Waffle House executives during an emergency? They're at the site of the emergency - not HQ.
If someone needs to make a decision about whether to say, cut a check for $20k to get something to open a location - in any other company that takes time and approvals.
In an emergency you don't have that luxury - so they can just cut the check then and there.
4. In the case of no building, they have a fleet of food trucks.
When a Hurricane wiped out Panama City, the Waffle House deployed food trucks and **gave away** over 2000 meals a day.
Lastly:
5. Affected workers who don't have a restaurant to go to or who have personal / familial destruction continue to get paid weekly in cash.
Who feeds our first responders and the critical infrastructure people when there's no infrastructure?
The Waffle House does.
13 replies
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