Business For The Common Good In A Hurricane

You can tell a lot about a businessman by watching his actions under stress, and you cant get much more stressful than having a 600 mile wide monster pushing a 20 ft tall wall of water with 110 mile per hour winds heading straight for you. I m writing this story from Spring, Texas, 36 hours after impact from hurricane Ike. Well over 2 million people are still without power, as well as tens of thousands of businesses. The economic impact from this event could be well over 10 billion dollars. The power company is saying that some of us could be without electricity for two to three weeks.
However, this article isnt about the bad news, weve all had enough of that. Instead, its about three separate businesses that I had the opportunity to observe. As a rule I hardly ever mention business names in my articles, but after the outstanding effort I saw put forth, I feel compelled to do so. The first business I went in to was Pavorattis pizza buffet. It was just 6 hours before impact, and there was already tropical storm force winds of 40 to 60 miles per hour hitting us in gusts right outside the restaurant, yet the family was inside, serving hot food, as well as to go orders. What was so special about this was all the other restaurants in the area had been closed for at least 6 hours. Not only were they performing a service for their community, they were building brand recognition with customers who normally might not have stopped in.
Saturday, about 18 hours after impact, we drove to a small boarded up strip center and saw a hand painted sign saying that the donut shop was open for business. We went inside and bought some soft drinks and spoke to the owners. The whole family was there, and the men were in the back trying desperately to start a generator so they could begin cooking. I checked back after a few hours and saw that they finally had to give up. They fought the rains and wind to get there, trying to do the right thing, only to be done in by an equipment failure. It was a valiant effort.
We found the third business that night, while the flood waters were still rising, making many roads and freeways impassible. Making our way to Tomball, Texas, where by some miracle they actually had electricity, we thought we hit the jackpot. There were lights everywhere, with restaurants and gas stations on almost every corner, unfortunately they were all closed. Suddenly, my daughter spotted a crowd off to our right in a parking lot so we pulled in to take a look. It was a Captain Ds Seafood restaurant, and they were open for business. The inside was full and they had a line of people outside waiting that was a football field long. Something tells me that the managers bonus for this quarter will be the biggest he has ever seen. There they were, compiling historic sales numbers and performing a service for their community as well. I love it when business people strive for perfection, even in the face of a major disaster. I dont know about you, but Im going to remember someone who fed me when no one else would. My hat is off to all three of them, job well done.