Getting a Cease and Desist from Waffle House

In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene approached Florida, and the author, a university student, decided to spend time reverse-engineering Waffle House's website. The Waffle House Index, an unofficial tool used by FEMA to gauge the severity of natural disasters, is based on the fact that Waffle House restaurants never close during storms.

However, there was no single source of truth for the data, making it difficult to scrape or find. The author discovered a JSON file within a Next.js file that contained data about every open location, their status, and whether they were closed. Using Python, a Next.js frontend, and Redis for caching, the author created a live map tracking which Waffle Houses were closed, indicating which parts of the country might be affected.

After publishing the site, it gained attention from the Waffle House corporate account, leading to a back-and-forth with a political commentator named Frank Luntz. Despite being blocked by Waffle House, the author received an official cease and desist email demanding the removal of their trademarked material. Despite the legal threat, the author maintained a lighthearted tone, emphasizing the fun of the project.