Hurricane or not, Waffle House is eager to serve

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WTVD) -- It's an unusual combination, but hurricanes and Waffle House's go hand and hand.

When a hurricane hits, the 24-hour breakfast diner's goal is to stay open.

"We found ourselves in trying to service the community that we are connected to, and we try and do the best we can to get everyone a warm meal and to do the best for our associates because they really want to work," Daniel Fazakerly, with Waffle House said.

FEMA even tracks what's known as the Waffle House Index which indicates how well a community is holding up during the storm.

"They started tracking the way we kind of close and open restaurants and play off of where we are," Fazakerly adds.

On Thursday, while just about every restaurant and store was closed in Wilmington, every Waffle House in town is open.

A welcome relief to those who are looking for a warm meal.

"We come here every hurricane," one customer said. "It's the only place open."

Another customer added, "We just needed a place to go and our Uber told us Waffle House is open."

The eatery takes hurricanes very seriously. It plans ahead for power outages and has generators lined up ready to go when the power goes out.

Waffle House even has four different menus depending on how bad conditions get: They have a no-power menu, a no-water menu, an emergency menu and a limited menu.

Thanks to Waffle House they have your hunger needs covered when it comes to Hurricane Dorian.