Grills and Gridlock: Decoding the Waffle House Index

When a catastrophic hurricane tears through the American South, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not immediately check the stock market or the power grid to gauge the devastation. Instead, they look at a highly specific, totally unofficial macroeconomic metric: the operational status of the local Waffle House. This legendary diner chain is famous for never closing. Their hyper...