Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer was picking up a team at the Wilmington, North Carolina, airport on Monday. Ehmer spoke to The Associated Press by phone.

If Waffle House restaurants (which are normally open 24/7) are forced to suspend operations in a disaster zone, that's a good sign that the community could require more robust disaster relief ...

"Waffle House has a very simple operational philosophy: get open. They never close. They run 24 hours a day," then-FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told the New York Times in 2012.