Keeping your restaurant in good working order throughout the year can be a major struggle for many business owners in the United States. U.S. business owners see all manner of natural disasters and extreme weather systems throughout the year, from wildfires in the Pacific West to hurricanes along the East Coast. Weather hazards like high winds and damage to power lines are constant threats during the high seasons and throughout the year’s calendar of torrential rain and floor water threats. Preparing your restaurant for the worst has become a ubiquitous task in the age of coronavirus precautions, but many additional safety measures and backups are necessary to deal with the threatening weather that may come your way in this new year as well.
Prepare for the obvious first.
Consulting hurricane survival tips is a great start for those operating a food service on the east coast of the United States. Preparing your restaurant to handle the high winds and floodwater that results from a storm surge off the coast is standard practice for many homes and business owners in this region. The addition of protective clothing and a backup generator to keep the refrigerator and freezer operating throughout the down period is a crucial next step for businesses put suddenly into this predicament.
Adding used restaurant equipment to your lineup is another great way to prepare for the threat of rising floodwater or high winds that threaten to break through your windows or roof. Refurbished restaurant equipment is a great way to stretch your dollars during a difficult financial time and add additional resources to the kitchen and back of the house. This additional restaurant equipment can be used to replace any broken or damaged pieces that you already keep in your lineup or as a backup for any potential breakage as a result of shelter requirements in your local market.
Each piece of equipment in your restaurant is crucial to your success, so keeping additional pans or merchandise is the best way to ensure a continuity plan in the event of damage caused by the new season of hurricanes or a nor’easter that knocks out power to the block for a week, leaving debris, hazards, and chaos in its wake.
Keep extraneous circumstances in mind, too.
Preparing for extreme weather means focusing on the big ones (hurricanes, fires, blizzards, high winds), but in order to really prepare for anything, you’ll need to identify smaller threats as well. When the weather begins to turn, many other hazards present themselves to you and your business.
Rodents and leaks, for example, begin to rear their heads. In the south, for instance, when the torrential rains begin in the summer, cockroaches, mice, and flies end up flushed into millions of homes, leaving homeowners to battle against the invasion of these annoying critters. These animals offer up a unique challenge to a restaurant owner that isn’t present in a home setting. The food industry has to work extra hard to maintain exacting kitchen cleanliness standards, and an infestation flies in the face of this goal. Similarly, the rains and snowy conditions that prevail across the country invite mold and other growth into the interior of your establishment. Cleaning must be stepped up during these extreme weather periods in order to ensure that neither of these smaller, yet equally devastating, hazards take hold in your eatery.
While a damaged roof that puts your kitchen out of commission for a week or two while the repair work and restocking is completed, a mouse issue can plague your restaurant for years to come in the minds of your customer base. Take care of business, and keep your restaurant clear of any potential hazards this year.
