Waffle House sends reinforcements to restaurants affected by Hurricane Florence

WILMINGTON, NC –

Workers from the Waffle House chain of restaurants come from across the country to help maintain the company's sites in the areas affected by Florence.

Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer was looking for a team at the Wilmington, NC airport on Monday. Ehmer spoke to the Associated Press by phone.

SEE ALSO: How Waffle House Works With FEMA During A Catastrophe Like Hurricane Florence

Ehmer said that about 150 workers had been recruited on Monday as part of the company 's emergency response team. He says that being part of the business culture never close. Additional hands were partly needed as some local workers had to evacuate.

The chain is well known for staying open, no matter what the former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, created the so-called Waffle House Index. Fugate used restaurants as a reference for how quickly local communities could recover from hurricanes. Under the clue, a closed waffle house was a bad sign.

Ehmer said that Waffle House was to carry food to Wilmington, which had been largely cut off from road access by the waters of Florence.