When Waffle House closes, you know it’s serious. Coronavirus shuts Key Largo location
Hundreds of Waffle Houses across the country, including the Key Largo location, have temporarily closed because of COVID-19 and for the first time has activated the Waffle House Index for something other than a hurricane.
The Waffle House Index is an unofficial metric typically used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to determine the effect of a storm and the amount of assistance needed for disaster recovery.
On Wednesday, it entered Code Red according to the 24-hour restaurant chain.
Translation: If you weren’t taking social distancing seriously in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, you better start now.
As of Friday, the chain’s website lists 429 locations across the country that have closed. These include Florida locations in Key Largo, Cape Coral, Sarasota, Cocoa Beach, Kissimmee, three in Orlando, St. Petersburg, Seminole, Casselberry, Largo, Clearwater, two in Port Orange, Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach and two in Panama City Beach.
More than 1,500 locations remained open nationwide but most — including in Broward and Miami-Dade — were take-out only.
“Hour by hour, Waffle House’s reality is changing. We continue to adapt as different restrictions are imposed on how businesses can operate,” Waffle House said in a statement provided by Njeri Boss, director of public relations.
“This week, with stricter restrictions being implemented, our system sales have declined by about 70% below normal levels. So, we’ve made some painful decisions.”
Boss would not give a specific reason as to why the Key Largo location closed but locations in Miami Gardens, Florida City, Davie and Fort Lauderdale remained open for take-out — despite more cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade and Broward than in Monroe County.
One deciding factor, however, could be that the portion of U.S. 1 and County Road 905, that both feed the Florida Keys island chain, are temporarily closed to most non-residents, such as tourists.
Some of the closures, Waffle House explained, “resulted from our consolidation of restaurant operations where it made sense to do so.”
Boss would not say how this would impact the individual restaurants’ employees.
The company did address how the Code Red warning on the Waffle House Index played a role in its decision to shut some restaurants for the time being.
“We referred to the Index as a way to help people understand how big of an impact this virus has had on the restaurant industry. The reference to Code Red also highlights the tremendous impacts that are being felt by many of our associates and their families. With so few customers visiting our restaurants, we are rapidly losing the ability to offer enough work hours for our associates to earn money needed to live their lives and pay their bills. Hardest hit so far, are our restaurants in the Midwest and along parts of the Gulf Coast,” Waffle House said.
“Waffle House is striving to keep as many stores open for as long as we can, in order to support as many associates as possible.”
Of the 1,500 or so restaurants that remain open, more that 1,200 are running as take-out-only businesses — including in counties like Miami-Dade and Broward that have issued shelter-in-place orders.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 10:19 AM.
