Power outage can become incredibly expensive for businesses

For most people, a power outage is nothing more than a frustrating inconvenience. For businesses, it can become an expensive ordeal, especially for the food industry.

“Well the worry kicks in almost automatically, almost on an instant,” said Antonio Meza, the owner of Pechenga’s Mexican restaurant in Idaho Falls. “You know we have about two hours to go ahead, surf it through. Once it goes past two hours, we start making the call of are we tossing it (the food).”

Tossing food is where many restaurants and food-based businesses have the potential to loose a lot of money. Restaurants aren’t known for their large profit margins. Loosing several thousand dollars worth of food can really hit them in the pocketbook.

Meza said once his staff closes the restaurant, they instantly start putting the more expensive cuts of meat on ice to keep them at a safe temperature. “The worry is when it (the meat) gets over 40 degrees,” said Meza. “At 41 it becomes unsafe, so we have to keep it cold.”

While the food industry has some of the biggest risks, it isn’t the only one that suffers from a power outage. Most stores end up closing as they can’t properly process purchases, or serve customers.

“We can’t do haircuts when you need electricity for clippers,” said Shelly Mills, the owner of Bella Capelli Salon in Idaho Falls. “You can’t foil because you need hair dryers for heat.”

Mills actually had a customer who was getting her hair colored when the power went out. They had to let her color lift naturally in the dry air to finish the job. “You just do what you can and reschedule with people,” said Mills.