Every winter, some small businesses scramble at 6 a.m. trying to decide whether to open, who to call and what to post. A little planning in November turns that scramble into a five-minute routine. Here is a simple winter weather closure plan you can put together this week.

Step 1: Decide who makes the call, and when

Confusion starts when nobody knows who decides. Pick one decision-maker and one backup. Then set a decision time, for example, 6 a.m. for a business that opens at 9.

Write down what you’ll consider:

  1. Official local weather warnings and road conditions.
  2. Whether staff can travel safely.
  3. Whether customers can reach you and park safely.
  4. Power or heating problems at the building.

The goal isn’t a rigid formula. It’s making sure the same person looks at the same things at the same time.

Step 2: Create a staff contact chain

Your team needs to hear first, before customers. Keep an up-to-date contact list and choose one main channel, such as a group text, plus a backup like a phone call.

Prepare a short message template:

“Due to the weather, [Business] will be [closed / opening late at time] today, [date]. [Note about pay or schedule if applicable]. We’ll update you by [time] about tomorrow.”

Agree ahead of time on how closures affect schedules and pay. Policies vary and local employment rules may apply, so if you’re unsure, check with your local labor department or a qualified advisor. What matters most is that staff know the policy before the first storm.

Step 3: Tell customers everywhere, fast

Customers look in different places. List every spot your hours appear:

  1. Your Google Business Profile and other map listings.
  2. Your website banner or homepage.
  3. Social media accounts.
  4. Your phone greeting or voicemail.
  5. Booking or ordering platforms.
  6. A sign on the door, if someone can safely put one up.

Write a customer message template too, so you only have to fill in the details. Keep it short and include when you expect to reopen.

Step 4: Plan for appointments and orders

If you take bookings, decide now how you’ll handle them:

  1. Who contacts booked customers, and how?
  2. Will you offer the first available rescheduled slot?
  3. How will you handle deposits or prepaid orders?

For restaurants and shops with perishable stock, think about what you can freeze, donate or use later, and how you’ll handle deliveries scheduled for a closure day.

Step 5: Protect the building

A closed business can still suffer winter damage. Make a quick checklist:

  1. Keep the heat at a safe minimum so pipes don’t freeze.
  2. Know where the main water shut-off is.
  3. Arrange snow and ice removal for entrances and sidewalks.
  4. Unplug sensitive equipment if power outages are common in your area.
  5. Keep emergency contacts for your landlord, plumber and utility company handy.

Step 6: Consider partial options

Not every storm means a full closure. Depending on your business, you might:

  1. Open late or close early.
  2. Switch to online orders, pickup or phone consultations.
  3. Let some staff work remotely on tasks like scheduling, email or bookkeeping.

Decide in advance which options make sense so you’re not inventing them on the spot.

Step 7: Put it all on one page

Combine everything into a single page: decision-maker, decision time, contact chain, message templates, where to post updates and the building checklist. Print a copy, save one to your phone and share it with your key staff.

Step 8: Review after each storm

After each closure, take five minutes to ask what worked and what didn’t. Did a customer miss the update? Did a staff member not get the text? Small fixes make the next closure smoother.

The bottom line

Winter weather is out of your control, but your response doesn’t have to be. With a clear decision-maker, ready-made messages and a simple building checklist, a snow day becomes a minor disruption instead of a stressful morning. Build your one-page plan now, while the forecast is still calm.

Image: Snowy street scene, Valdez, Alaska, February 1916 – DPLA – c2f4e069ea77829ba95f0fc40b02fc8e (page 1) via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark 1.0