Franchisees Find Disaster
Preparedness the Best Plan
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nyone who has been through a natural disaster will tell
you that the pain of damaged property and lost loved
ones is truly a nightmare. For small businesses that
nightmare can last long after winds have died down
and water has receded. And, although it is impossible to predict
Mother Nature’s wrath, there are things you can do as a business
owner to minimize your risk.
For Planet Fitness® franchisees Jon Evans and Scott Sanders,
that nightmare became a reality when Hurricane Harvey made
landfall in late August. With 17 clubs in Houston, the duo
had some tough decisions to make. This was not the first time
their clubs have weathered a storm, however. Hurricane Ike in
2008 and several floods in the following years presented similar
problems, and PF Houston, LLC learned the hard way what to
do and not do.
The first step in preparing for any natural disaster is to monitor
the storm in question. PF Houston monitored Hurricane Harvey
daily, and assessments were made by key employees near the areas
expected to be affected. Decisions were then made via conference
calls, and the disaster preparation process
moved forward from there.
For Anchor Management Group, which
owns and operates locations in Georgia and
the Carolinas, the operations team is the
by Christina Cannon
group tasked with monitoring efforts.
“Basically, on our ops team, we have
two individuals in charge of first understanding when there
is a potential weather event that could impact our geographic
region. Once any tropical depression pops up, we have alerts set
on weather apps that will notify us so we can look into potential
storm tracks,” said Joseph Pilotte, operations manager for Anchor
Management. “Once we are aware of the possibility of a storm
impacting our area, we notify our management teams to start up
a line of communication with the staff via a group text to keep all
personnel in the loop.”
And franchise groups are in agreement: One of the best things
teams can do early in the process is to establish text groups or
threads to keep everyone up to date when they are on the move or