Navigating the Costs of Weather

You can’t control the weather, but you do have the opportunity to control a negative hit on your P&L

Weather is an obstacle that all operators have to deal with, but is there anything that you can do about it?

As you get the weather forecast that snow is coming, you begin to feel it in your stomach. Your first inclination is that it might not really snow (denial) so why is the weather person scaring off all of your customers (anger). Weather forecasts are always wrong… right? The questions swirl in your head: Will there be a storm?  When will it hit?  When will it stop?  And most important: How will it impact my sales?

So, you are going to lose revenue, but, of course, you have prepared for this in your budgets. At least, most of you have. You look out the window, and the snow is coming down and you put on the weather report to get the latest read. It is now time to decide whether to close locations, open late or open with decreased revenue. Therefore, your new focus should…