Creating a Pandemic Plan For Your Business

The Coronavirus pandemic caught many restaurants and businesses off guard with no plan in place on how to operate and adapt during such a difficult time. But, now that we’ve made it through the mandatory closings in many states and businesses can reopen and start to phase back to some sense of normalcy, many business owners need to ask themselves, “Am I prepared if this happens again?”. If you haven’t considered creating a pandemic plan to be ready for any new waves of closures, here’s what you need to consider putting in one.

Employee Procedures

Your employees are the heart of your business and you want the best for them during good times and bad. So, you’ll want to ensure you have a plan in place that will safeguard their position during a pandemic to help keep your business running and food on their table. Things to include in the employee section are:

• How many employees will remain full time or will all employees move to part time?
• Which positions will be labeled as essential and will there be additional compensation provided for these employees during future pandemics?
• If you have staff considered to be non-essential employees and need to be furloughed, do you have the resources gathered to give them the information they need to receive unemployment?
• Will you provide furloughed employees any special incentives like discounts, access to free meals or continued healthcare?
• When you are able to bring back furloughed employees, do you have an order in place as to who will be offered their job back first? Will it be the oldest employees, be based on position or by other criteria?
• If your business pivots to provide other services during future breakouts, will your staff be trained to handle the new tasks?

Altering Your Standard Operations

Many businesses and restaurants found that pivoting to other services during mandatory closings was a lifesaving decision on their part. If you discovered a way to remain open while being compliant to social distancing and other pandemic-related mandates, you’ll probably want to continue these services or have them in your back pocket if a new surge or future pandemic occurs. Here are some things to consider in your pandemic plan if you will pivot again.

• What resources do I need available to provide this service again?
• How many employees do I need for this new service?
• How will I advertise my new services?
• What price points are needed to breakeven?
• Are there any other new services that you could provide?
• Which vendors do I need to put on hold?

Marketing Game Plan

If you’re able to stay open during pandemic times, it’s important that your customers know this. Marketing is often seen as an extra expense that is nice to have when funds are available, but in fact, marketing needs to be seen as a fixed expense and budgeted for during all types of situations. Here are things to keep in mind when creating your marketing plan.

• What special offers will you be able to promote?
• What message do you want to focus on: clean and safe, great deals, accessible and reliable.
• What marketing channels will you use?
• How much will be budgeted towards each channel?

Learn From Your Experiences

No one ever imagined we’d see a time like this, but now that we’ve experienced it, we’re all better prepared come next time. If your business implemented new procedures because of the coronavirus, make sure you document them and keep enforcing them. As we see the fear subside and times return to normal, it may be easy to ease up on procedures and then eventually forget them. Having these documented in your pandemic plan will allow you to preserve the knowledge that you gained and hopefully not have to relearn through the same mistakes again.

It’s always best to be as prepared as possible. Relying on your gut may get you through this time, but having a set plan in place if we see this resurface may be the factor that keeps your business open after another surge. It’s also best to have working capital at the ready for times like these. Securing a line of credit that you can draw from will come in handy. Ask your local loan consultant about the options we have available.