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First Posted: 2/19/2014 NEW YORK &#8212; When the wind chill in Chicago hit minus 40 on Jan. 6, Dogs Deserve It shut down. It was too cold outside for the dog walking service&#8217;s four-legged clients and its employees.
Owner Lauren Pietrocarlo estimates this winter&#8217;s harsh weather will cost her small business between $10,000 and $18,000.
&#8220;We can&#8217;t afford to hire or give raises. Bonuses are being deferred for a couple of months,&#8221; Pietrocarlo says. &#8220;It&#8217;s a huge thing losing that much.&#8221;
Small businesses have suffered this winter with heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Revenue at stores and restaurants plunged as customers stayed home, hurting cash flows that often are tighter at smaller businesses than larger companies. In some areas, the weather has been unusually severe, worsening its toll.
This has been the snowiest winter nationally in four years and the coldest in three years, costing businesses of all sizes and their employees an estimated $15 billion that can&#8217;t be made up, according to research from Planalytics, which analyzes the economic impact of weather. That includes money for restaurant meals and entertainment, employee wages and canceled trips. It is a small amount compared to the gross domestic product of $16 trillion, but it&#8217;s significant for companies hurt by the weather, says Evan Gold, a senior vice president at Planalytics.
&#8220;We are really talking about a fraction of a percentage point, but in the current environment, every dollar counts,&#8221; Gold says.
But sales aren&#8217;t the only victim of the bitter weather. Severe cold and snow is ruining or delaying shipments.
Jenny Brown was stunned when bottles holding her non-alcoholic beer for dogs shattered. Brown, whose company 3 Busy Dogs is in Seattle, has Bowser Beer shipped from Florida by truck. A rare southern freeze cost her about $1,000.
&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t sound like much money,&#8221; Brown says. &#8220;But for a small business, it is.&#8221;
Glenn Gross can relate.
Bad weather has cut revenue at his Fat Jack&#8217;s BBQ restaurants near Philadelphia and in Ithaca, N.Y. by 25 percent, he says. On top of that, deliveries were delayed, sending Gross to stores like Sam&#8217;s Club for ribs and chicken that cost 20 percent more than wholesale. The storms also slowed construction on three new restaurants, which means it will take longer for them to open and start bringing in revenue.
&#8220;We&#8217;re at the mercy of the weather,&#8221; Gross says. &#8220;It just plays so much havoc with what we do.&#8221;

Winter puts small biz out in the cold