<\/p>\n
When the weather outside is frightful, the pizza delivery business can be anything but delightful. Forecasts of rain, sleet, snow, hail and sub-zero temperatures can mean trouble for delivery drivers, but these weather events (when handled appropriately) can also beef up your restaurant\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n
The first step in properly managing bad-weather delivery is having a plan, says Joe Crowley, owner of Pisa Pizza in Malden, Massachusetts. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to go back to your Boy Scout motto \u2013\u2013 be prepared,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
For Pisa Pizza, bad-weather training isn\u2019t just for delivery drivers. The inside staff knows weather incidents mean extra drivers coming in, more pizza to produce and less margin for error. \u201cI tell my inside people we can\u2019t drop the ball, because it\u2019s slow enough on the street (with bad weather) and those drivers need us inside working hard to make sure that food is made quickly and correctly,\u201d Crowley says.<\/p>\n
Crowley\u2019s drivers do have training, too: three three-hour shifts, in fact. \u201cIn the first three hours, we address inclement weather,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe talk about driving and weather gear. You can\u2019t just assume people understand something, and sometimes if you don\u2019t tell somebody they\u2019ve got to have gear, they\u2019ll show up in sneakers in a slush or snowstorm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training is critical, but so is equipment. Crowley\u2019s Boston-area store is equipped with the usual winter-weather gear \u2013\u2013 snow blowers, shovels, salt barrels. But that\u2019s not all. Worried about customer and driver safety on his property, he decided to invest in a snow plow for his truck. \u201cSometimes I\u2019m out at 3 or 4 a.m. making sure my parking lot is clear,\u201d he says. \u201cI can get the whole lot cleaned up before we open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if your restaurant prides itself on quick delivery, it\u2019s important drivers understand bad weather means they can quit watching the clock and keep all eyes trained squarely on the road.<\/p>\n
Customers usually understand … as long as you tell them about the delay when they order, says Mark Gold, co-owner of Pizza Shuttle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. \u201cA lot of times the people taking the orders are so used to repeating the same phrase over and over \u2013\u2013 saying \u2018it will be 35 to 40 minutes\u2019 \u2013\u2013 that we have to make sure they tell people when we know that it\u2019s going to be more like an hour,\u201d he says. \u201cIf people know ahead of time, they understand. It\u2019s when they think it\u2019s going to be half an hour and it turns out to be an hour that you run into problems and angry customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeping up-to-date on technology trends will help you better communicate with customers as well. Gold says Pizza Shuttle is getting an updated Web site soon; part of the reason is they wanted more flexibility on the landing page. \u201cWhen there\u2019s a big storm, we\u2019ll be able to put a notice on the site saying \u2018Hey, we\u2019re open today!\u2019 or \u2018Because of weather conditions, delivery is taking an hour,\u2019\u201d Gold says. The restaurant has also hired a company to manage its social media presence, and they plan on using Facebook, FourSquare and Twitter not only for marketing, but also to alert customers to weather-related closings, changes in hours or delivery delays.<\/p>\n
No matter how much of a Weather Channel junky you are, it\u2019s inevitable that unexpected weather will cause some problems for your delivery business. The floods that drenched Milwaukee this past year are a bizarre example of this. \u201cIt was crazy, it just happened so quickly,\u201d Gold says.<\/p>\n
Even Gold couldn\u2019t get to Pizza Shuttle that day because of high water, and he had no idea what roads were passable for his drivers. But instead of closing, he leaned on one of his most trusted employees. Gold called his top driver and asked him to manage inside the store. \u201cI told him if he needs to stop delivering, then to do it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Instead, his driver came up with his own plan: He would take 45 orders at a time. After that, he quit taking orders until all 45 of those pizzas were delivered. Then he would take 45 more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably would have just closed,\u201d Gold says. \u201cBut he came up with this, and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crowley says one advantage he has over the competition is his willingness to play the weather by ear. \u201cLots of places will see a bad forecast and just go ahead and tell everyone to stay home; they\u2019re not going to open that day,\u201d he says. \u201cI tell everyone to prepare like we\u2019re going to be open. That way if a blizzard misses us or isn\u2019t as bad as expected, we\u2019re ready. Sometimes we\u2019re the only game in town that\u2019s open, and we have a very busy day.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter how prepared you are, how well you communicate delays or how much business you could be getting, sometimes you really do just have to stop delivery because of the weather. \u201cI tell the drivers, hey, you go until you don\u2019t feel safe, then you let me know,\u201d Crowley says. \u201cI get a lot of feedback that tips are very good when the weather is bad, so they want to deliver. If they say they can\u2019t do it anymore because they don\u2019t feel safe, I listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
TIP:<\/em> Consider using Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter to tell your customers about any changes or interruptions in delivery.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Are you sure you\u2019re insured?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s important to be properly insured no matter what the weather, but slick roads and poor visibility increase the likelihood of car accidents for everyone. Are you protected?<\/p>\n Non-owner auto liability policies are an absolute must for restaurants that send employees to deliver. If you\u2019re trying to skirt this by paying drivers as 1099 independent contractors, you\u2019re skating on thin ice \u2014 if someone sues because of an auto accident, you can still be held liable in court.<\/p>\n At Pisa Pizza, owner Joe Crowley has an accountability system in place to ensure his drivers are always on the right side of insurance law. Thanks to a POS system that tracks his drivers\u2019 insurance, if they lose their coverage or have some other paperwork problem, the computer won\u2019t even allow them to punch into work until it\u2019s addressed.<\/p>\n Alyson McNutt English is an award-winning freelance writer specializing in home, health, family and green topics. She is based in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the weather outside is frightful, the pizza delivery business can be anything but delightful. Forecasts of rain, sleet, snow, hail and sub-zero temperatures can mean trouble for delivery drivers, but these weather events (when handled appropriately) can also beef up your restaurant\u2019s bottom line. The first step in properly managing bad-weather delivery is having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3236],"tags":[],"topic":[3271],"class_list":["post-130105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","topic-people-pizzerias"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n