$25 an hour to work at Waffle House?
That’s what some employees and supporters at the chain restaurant’s southeast locations are apparently requesting. #WaffleHouse was trending Monday and Tuesday because some Waffle House employees in Atlanta protested for a higher wage, 24/7 security and an end to mandatory meal deductions, news reports show.
Earlier this week, there were several tweets and videos on social media showing rallies at restaurants in Atlanta, held largely in part by the Union of Southern Service Workers.
Waffle House has several locations in neighboring Florida, and the famous “Waffle House Index” comes in handy during Atlantic hurricane season — to measure just how serious a tropical storm is. The restaurant has gained a reputation for staying open to feed first responders or people affected by inclement weather during hurricane season or other natural disasters.
The push for wage increases for Waffle House employees has seen a divide on social, too.
On the one hand, $25 an hour for service industry workers seems well-deserved, supporters say. On the other hand, social media users had strongly worded tweets about a wage increase for Waffle House employees.
Here’s what we know.
What is the Waffle House Index?
The Waffle House Index has three levels to measure the destructive power during a natural disaster:
- Green: The Waffle House is open and serving a full menu. This means the restaurant has power and there is either no damage or it’s minimal.
- Yellow: The Waffle House is open but serving a limited menu. This means that power is out and the restaurant is running on a generator.
- Red: The Waffle House is closed and the area has likely experienced severe damage or severe flooding.
Waffle House acknowledges its famous “hurricane disaster index,” too, in a 2011 blog post titled, “how to measure a storm’s fury one breakfast at a time.” Craig Fugate, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, helped coin the phrase. In the blog post, his…
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