Geared Up Issue 4 2017 | Page 35

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