Here's the points from the first 10m of my talk:
"Everything I know about concurrency and resiliency I learned at the Waffle House"
They're 24/7/365 and mean it.
They have a reputation for emergency preparedness like no other company because they are like no other company.
A restaurant without water? Isn't that against Heath Code?
Yes - but Waffle House works to get variances for emergency operation - they re-configure.
i. They set up a dedicated hand-wash stations.
ii. They switch to bottled water / cans for drinks.
iii. They switch to disposable plates / cutlery et al.
iv. Their reduced menu is one that is designed to be efficient in a reduced water environment.
For example - the "Grills of Yore"™ run on both natural gas and propane so should the gas supply fail Waffle House can drop Propane Tanks at a location and just plug them in.
They ship in refrigerated trucks, gas, propane, water, cash, and people.
Those volunteers include the CEO/COO and their direct reports.
Where are the Waffle House executives during an emergency? They're at the site of the emergency - not HQ.
In an emergency you don't have that luxury - so they can just cut the check then and there.
When a Hurricane wiped out Panama City, the Waffle House deployed food trucks and **gave away** over 2000 meals a day.
5. Affected workers who don't have a restaurant to go to or who have personal / familial destruction continue to get paid weekly in cash.
Who feeds our first responders and the critical infrastructure people when there's no infrastructure?
The Waffle House does.