Depending upon where you live in the USA you may be really familiar with a Waffle House or not so much.
Geographically there are more Waffle House locations in the South, Middle States and East Coast south of Maryland than in other parts of the country.
It just so happens these regions often have seasonal weather events such as tornadoes and hurricanes. For a restaurant open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day considerable planning and training was accomplished for years in order to remain open as much as possible even through these weather events. Each site has their own generator and fuel to operate their generator for example.
In fact FEMA and other organizations who respond to assist in storm rescue and recovery in regions impacted have a Waffle House Index right next to the scientific weather related data such as wind speed tracking, storm surge, rainfall and more.
There are other major name stores which are critical in preparing for a weather event and in the rebuilding efforts such as Home Depot.
None are given the volume of coverage which Waffle House locations have.
Often seen as a backdrop to numerous live TV reports from local and national news reporters or from FEMA and other organizations who actually refer to the Waffle House Index in terms of storm severity.
Let’s consider what happened here. Waffle House as a company planned and trained their employees in order to have their restaurant locations have the ability to remain open 365 days a year 24 hours a day. No where did Waffle House plan and train how to become another index on storm severity for first responders and recovery organizations.
What took place is Waffle House became so good and so dependable on their status during a weather event that the Waffle House Index became a proven statistic to depend upon. It doesn’t hurt that many of these first responders and recovery personnel needed somewhere to eat and to meet and this often became the local Waffle House.
Now what does all of this Waffle House Index information mean to you?
Consider your business and what you offer – your service – your product. Is there an improvement you might make in your approach to marketing that tells a story which would connect better with your ideal clients? Waffle House could not purchase the positive marketing of their locations whenever there is a storm event. They clearly don’t have to any longer.
What positive result story are you able to tell about your business?
Need some help with this marketing effort? Contact me and let’s have a conversation.
Mitch Tublin is the CEO and Founder of Wenkroy International LLC a boutique consulting company with a main focus on Strategic Business Consulting, Training and Business Coaching. Our passion is to take people to the next level in their life and in their business.
