if they were to suddenly lose power.
“As things progress, we evaluate a lot of factors such as storm
size, strength, path, needs to close and evacuation. With having
clubs in three different coastal states we rely on information from
our club managers locally in terms of the status of mandatory
evacuation notices for their areas,” explained Pilotte. “We use a
combination of The Weather Channel and ventusky.com to help us
gauge how the storm will impact the locations in a more localized
view.”
The decision on if and when to close a club is never an easy
one, but all franchisees agree that “better safe than sorry” is the way
to go. Once the decision to close a club is made, things tend to
move quickly, which is when a detailed checklist can prove useful.
“When storms are approaching tends to be the most difficult
time as employees and communities become very anxious as things
are developing,” said Pilotte. “A lot of times it’s a waiting game in
terms of making the final decisions to leave an area and close shop.”
Put People First
Sunshine Fitness Management, which has clubs in Georgia,
Florida and Alabama, has seen the likes of Hurricane Matthew and
Hurricane Irma and has a team equipped with a detailed commu-
nications plan if the need ever arises.
Once the decision has been made to close a club, an email is
sent to key corporate employees, regional managers and the affected
clubs’ general and assistant managers. Sunshine Fitness then updates
the respective PF® club pages with an announcement of the closure
and sends out a text message blast to affected members.
Continued on page 34
Sunshine Fitness Management outfits each one of its clubs with
posters about closures. Materials are kept on hand so, when and if they are
ever needed, employees are not found scrambling to find signage.
FIFTH THIRD BANK PROUDLY
SUPPORTS PFIFA IN EXPLORING
YOUR FINANCIAL ALTERNATIVES.
Jeff Hoffmann
SVP, Group Head of Restaurant/Beverage Finance
(312) 704-6246 – [email protected]
www.53.com/commercial
Fifth Third Bank. Member FDIC.
33