When the economy starts affecting Waffle House, we've got a real problem.
Waffle House has been a staple of American cuisine ever since it first founded in Georgia in 1955. Now, the franchise boasts over 2000 locations, and they're known for being open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year just as much as they're known for they're delicious All-Star Special.
If you go to a Waffle House and order anything other than the All-Star Special, we can't be friends.
The funny thing about the breakfast restaurant that has served an inordinate amount of eggs and hash browns in its lifetime is that Waffle House is often looked to in times of distress and emergency. No, I'm not talking about needing a greasy meal to save you from your hangover (though Waffle House is a great hangover cure). I'm instead talking about the "Waffle House Index" that is often used by the government to gauge disasters.
The scale was first coined by Craig Fugate, the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, back in 2011 after a tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. The town's two Waffle House stores remained open, and the FEMA director made a quip about the restaurant's reputation for being the last to close and the first to reopen after a disaster:
"If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That's really bad. That's where you go to work."
What may have started out as a joke turned into an informal measurement used by the government, with Fugate turning the "Waffle House Index" into a color-coded scale to reference during disaster recovery:
Pretty cool right?
The only problem is that now it seems like disaster has struck Waffle Houses nationwide, and there's no index that can save them. Due to a nationwide egg shortage that has been caused by the Bird Flu, the breakfast establishment has made the tough decision to hit customers with a 50-cent surcharge per egg to help combat the rising egg prices.
And it's like that - at least for the time being - at every Waffle House in existence:
It's truly tragic, but let's remember that it's not Waffle House's fault. They've been there for us so many times... the least we can do is pony up and pay a couple extra dollars for breakfast. Waffle House clearly doesn't want to pass the buck on to their loyal customers, but the memo they released making the announcement made it seem as though their hands were tied:
"The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (Bird Flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices. Consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions. Effective February 3, Waffle House has implemented a temporary .50 per egg surcharge to all menus. Rather than increasing prices across the menu, this is a temporary targeted surcharge tied to the unprecedented rise in egg prices.
As long as they are available, quality, fresh-cracked, Grade A Large eggs will remain a key ingredient in many of our customers' favorite meals. While we hope these price fluctuations will be short-lived we cannot predict how long this shortage will last. We are continuously monitoring egg prices and will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow."
Tough times. You hate to see Waffle House cracking under the pressure of the egg shortage, am I right? I'm sure this decision left many of the Waffle House higher-ups scrambling to figure out a solution. Hopefully all of this blows over, easily. What? Can't take a yolk?