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Planet Fitness Improves Air Filtration, PPE For NY Reopening
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Planet Fitness says it is ready to safely re-open on Monday in New York State.
“We’re ready to go,” proclaimed James Innocenti, chief operating officer of Planet Fitness Supreme, which owns and operates 70 of the health club chain’s locations in New York, California, Hawaii and Massachusetts.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week that gyms can reopen at 33 percent of its capacity, starting Monday. Local governments are tasked with conducting health inspections before Sept. 2. Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York City may not be able to complete inspections until after Labor Day because reopening schools are the Big Apple’s “priority” right now.
“We really look forward to working with Mayor de Blasio,” said Innocenti who owns all 47 of Planet Fitness’ locations in New York City with his brother, adding he will adhere to State and City guidance to “get open as soon as possible.”
Innocenti told WCBS 880’s Neil A. Carousso that members will be required to wear masks at all times, per Governor Cuomo’s order. He is also arming all of his employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and PF Supreme will close for deep cleaning overnights.
“We’ll be able to sanitize every single piece of equipment, bathrooms, etc. every single night,” he said.
Planet Fitness is also focused on air filtration. Filters are rated by their efficiency in blocking large particles. Minimum efficiency reporting value or MERV filters are rated on a scale of one to 20. Health experts recommend indoor facilities have a MERV-13 filter or higher to block viral particles that can spread through aerosols. Cuomo announced a mandate last month that shopping malls, which have reopened in phase 4 of New York’s reopening, install MERV-11 filters or higher.
“We listened loud and clear to the Governor,” Innocenti said. “We got those MERV-13’s in all our stores right now.”
Planet Fitness does not offer individual training or fitness classes, which are up to localities to allow upon inspection.
“Our gyms are really set up for physical distancing,” the franchisee said.
Its health clubs are about 20,000 square feet on average. Innocenti hopes members will return while it operates at a third of its capacity, but he understands people’s trepidations over COVID-19 transmission.
“We encourage people to come in and see what we’re doing and see how safe that we really are,” he said, continuing, “I understand the fear out there for sure, but I think with the protocols that we all put in place and the focus on taking care of our members, and that is our top priority, I think they’re going to see that.”
Planet Fitness waived membership fees since health clubs were shut down in March. Innocenti says people can pause their memberships until they feel safe returning to the gym.
“At 33 percent capacity, although that’s challenging for the business, I think it gives the consumer a bit of ease, understanding that there’s not going to be as many people working out at the same time as there typically would be at 100 percent capacity,” he told WCBS 880.
Planet Fitness launched “Crowd Meter” – a new feature in its app that enables members to check capacities at gyms before visiting.
“If you log on to the app and you see that the capacity is really high at that given moment, you may not feel comfortable coming in,” Innocenti explained.
He is optimistic about the future of Planet Fitness – one of the largest health club chains in the U.S. James and his brother Jeff Innocenti, PF Supreme’s chief executive officer, have been in the fitness industry for 25 years. They bought stake of Planet Fitness in 2004.
“We know how to navigate through difficult times,” James said, citing the 2008 recession. “I think this is just another challenge for us to come out on the other end very strong.”
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Why Remote-Only Classes May Force A Reckoning On Education
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Most K-12 students in the Tri-State Area will begin the school year with remote learning as part of the curriculum as teachers’ unions battle with local officials about reopening classrooms in the safest manner while parents face the tough decision of whether to ultimately send their children to school buildings and extracurricular activities in September. Students, teachers and schools will be forced to embrace online classes in the short-term, but it may take hold as the future of education in a system largely undisrupted in history.
“We can’t just cross this threshold at some point and go back to what people want to be the ‘old normal,'” said Alex Urrea, founder and managing partner of Eduscape, which trains educators and school leaders on implementing technology into the classroom.
Tools such as Microsoft Teams and Google for Education are affordable Learning Management Systems already on the market.
“The ‘new normal’ is going to be about how do we use this technology more effectively to reach kids that we should have been reaching better all along using technology,” explained Urrea on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight with Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso, sponsored by BNB Bank.
He pointed out the inequities in education, underscored by the pandemic, in the amount of options and resources available for families who have greater income. School serves as daycare for parents who need to work. So-called “learning pods” have become the new private tutoring phenomenon.
Some lower cost options have emerged as the private sector works on solutions. Camp Hazen YMCA in Chester, CT is pivoting from a summer camp to an online learning center for small groups of students in a socially-distanced outside space on its 150-acres of land.
“We’re kind of looking at it like a supervised study hall,” said Executive Director and CEO Denise Learned, adding, “We’re just there more for the technical side of it and helping ensure that kids are getting their work done.”
Urrea is now hosting webinars for parents who are setting up their own type of learning pods or home schooling, whether that’s full-time this year or a hybrid model with part-time in-person instruction. Eduscape has a webinar scheduled for Wednesday, August 26 titled “The Parent as a Remote Learning Aide.”
“Be familiar with the type of technology that the school is requiring them to use,” he advises parents. “Know what the kids need to have available to them to be better prepared to learn online and participate in class.”
Urrea told Connolly and Carousso parents should create a dedicated space for their children to do their school work so there are little to no distractions at home. Many parents who have been working from home can understand the need for quiet space or a home office to focus.
Teachers must adapt as well, he said, pointing to Eduscape’s 12-year record of encouraging more than 770,000 teachers and schools to embrace technology to improve the quality of education during the 7-hour school day.
“Don’t lecture,” Urrea emphasized. “Use the tools within the platforms that are available to you: virtual whiteboarding, the use of video in engaging students.”
He said it can be a positive inflection point for education, which largely has the same core structure through multiple generations. But, learning habits have changed over time.
“It’s how to use these resources to drive sound pedagogian instruction not just use technology for the sake of it, because it’s not effective,” he said.
Eduscape employs educators who have taught in a classroom for more than 10 years in their mission to rethink traditional education.
“We try and make good teachers better, struggling teachers good on their way to better and technology is just another part of their tool box to do that,” said Urrea.
Online classes have become more widely available to undergraduate and graduate students at colleges and universities in recent years, allowing students to manage their study time, jobs, and career advancement opportunities such as internships. Remote learning can be creatively executed, depending on the teachers’ skill sets. Some professors reluctant to change in years past, have now embraced teaching online after learning a platform as a health necessity for those vulnerable to COVID-19.
“There’s so much content that teachers have to get to,” said Urrea, continuing, “Maybe, now, homework can be an extension of the classroom with regular learning happening online after school when things go back to normal.”
Learn new ways to prepare for the school year with solutions for students, parents and teachers on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or the media player above.
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Brooklyn Daycare Struggles To Survive While Adjusting To COVID Era
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Education is the life’s work of a mother and daughter who provide learning resources for young children in their Brooklyn community, but the coronavirus pandemic is threatening their daycare.
Mildred Lovell immigrated to East Flatbush from Haiti as a baby where she was raised, stared her journey as a special education teacher for more than 20 years, and opened Garden of Knowledge Day Care Center at 1657 Nostrand Avenue in February 2007 with her daughter Dheydra.
“It brings tears to my eyes that I may not be able to reopen in September,” Mildred Lovell told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
Schools and daycares are in the forefront as local governments prepare to announce reopening plans for the fall while parents and teachers express trepidation about returning to the classroom as COVID-19 threatens the most vulnerable. Mildred and Dheydra have spent the last four months listening to parents’ health and safety concerns while introducing a distance learning program.
“During the summer time we work on sports with the children, so we continued our curriculum and we sent out equipment for sports, so they can work with their children,” Dheydra Lovell said. “It’s been successful for the most part.”
But, that success is relative to the pandemic. Online learning is not scalable for the Garden of Knowledge Day Care Center at this point unless they start seeing new enrollment if schools do not reopen this fall or enough parents hold out.
“I’m just keeping my faith and continue to pray so that doors can be open and children can be served in a safe manner,” said Mildred.
They do Zoom video calls on Fridays to check in on students’ progress and work with parents to ensure children are receiving a stimulating learning experience – all things considered.
In the meantime, Dheydra, who also provides one-on-one tutoring for autistic children, spends her days reimagining the daycare from a new socially distanced layout to stocking up on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
“Planning out our budget, planning out what we will need to do to see if we can reopen in September and still accommodate the CDC guidelines and requirements as well as provide a very safe and productive environment for our children along with our staff,” Dheydra said of their challenges ahead.
The Garden of Knowledge Day Care Center is bleeding cash and facing an uphill financial battle as safety expenses increase and others remain constant.
“We haven’t recovered from the loss,” Dheydra told Joe and Neil about the financial impact of its forced shutdown in March, continuing, “It’s a question of recovering, sustaining, currently, and also, preparing for the next few months because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The East Flatbush daycare’s owners told WCBS 880 parents are expressing safety is priority, but as they look to return to the workplace, they will need child care services. It is a complex predicament for many families, underscoring the vitality of education for the economy.
“These are all things that we think about to really determine us opening up in September, said Dheydra Lovell.
Hear more about the uncertain future of education on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or the media player above.
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Businesses Near Mets, Yankee Stadiums Take A Hit As Baseball Returns Without Fans
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The boys of summer are back in town, but establishments near Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are fighting an uphill battle in a comeback dampened by a baseball season without fans in attendance.
“So far, since the pandemic, my sales are down $300,000,” said Joe Bastone whose family has owned Yankee Tavern for 93 years.
On the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso examine how the local economy is impacted by empty stadiums as Major League Baseball begins its 2020 season Thursday night with the Yankees in Washington, D.C. The Mets host the Atlanta Braves on Friday in their season opener that can be heard on WCBS 880 at 4:10 PM.
Bastone says 50 percent of his revenue is earned during Yankees home games. Patronizing his bar and restaurant is a game day routine for fans who travel from the region and throughout the country. Yanks legend Babe Ruth was known for buying a round of beer there for fans to celebrate a Bombers victory.
“It’s really devastating,” he lamented.
Yankee Tavern is only making 10 percent of what it typically earns on 161st Street. Bastone added televisions to an extended outdoor dining space with indoor dinning prohibited under state law indefinitely. He hopes people will enjoy a ballgame from his establishment beyond the right field gate.
“I just got a rent bill, which included $85,000 in real estate taxes,” he said, continuing, “I just don’t understand why we’re paying real estate taxes when the municipalities, the State and the City tell us we’re not allowed to operate.”
Bastone told Connolly and Carousso that “half” of businesses in the 161 Street Business Improvement District, which represents many of the merchandise shops and sports bars outside The Stadium, will not survive the pandemic-related shutdowns and the 2020 MLB season absent fans.
Irene DeBenedittis, third generation owner of Leo’s Latticini in Corona, Queens, is looking at the glass half full despite a grim outlook for what is typically their busy season with both the Mets in town and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships that draws millions of people from around the world every summer.
“I had the plexiglass set up for outside and we’re just doing takeout and home orders,” she said. “For now, I think it’s going well like that.”
Her grandparents started the family deli in the 1930s. Irene grew up making fresh mozzarella with her two sisters Carmela and Marie. Their mother Nancy took over the business and was beloved by her customers. But, the millions of Mets fans who came for lunch before an afternoon game at Shea Stadium and the City workers who stopped in on their lunch hour for a homemade hero did not know her as Nancy; they knew her as “Mama” – the endearing nickname that lives on since she passed away in 2009, as the deli is colloquially referred to the name of their Citi Field concession designation “Mama’s of Corona.”
“I’m proud of what we were taught – our ethics, the background,” DiBenedittis said.
It’s that positive outlook on life that is getting her through this crisis.
“You have to appreciate what you have and work for it,” she said.
Irene told Joe and Neil that she is operating her Queens deli out of love – the same unconditional love her grandparents instilled in Mama who raised three daughters in a community that saw them as family.
She said in these unprecedented circumstances, she encourages her workers to treat their customers “like yourself or your family.”
It’s #OpeningDay for the @Mets! Sports sidelined to #COVID19 has had a considerable impact on the economy.
Listen to @JoeConnollybiz & my @WCBS880 podcast as we talk to the owners of 90+ year old businesses Leo’s Latticini/#MamasofCorona & @YankeeTavern: https://t.co/MnZI2bDMO1 pic.twitter.com/r4FgahqcWd
— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) July 24, 2020
DiBenedittis says Leo’s Latticini is earning a much smaller profit amid the coronavirus pandemic between the deli and the bakery next door. The concession at Citi Field, where they sell their specialty sandwiches and Italian desserts, will remain closed this season.
“We’re doing the best we can,” she said.
Hear what a baseball season without fans means for the local economy plus stories about legendary players going out to eat on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above.
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Long Island Moms Accelerate Digital Sales When Retailers Shutdown
By Neil A. Carousso
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. — Two Long Island mothers have increased the sales of their DEET-free insect repellent 6,000 percent over the last year despite the COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns with a keen focus on influencer marketing.
3 Moms Organics, LLC co-founders Lisa-Jae Eggert and Jennifer Decker told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, that a meaningful, personal message on Facebook from customers has brought in more sales than buying online advertisements.
“We’ve realized that spending less money is actually working,” Eggert said.They spent more on customer acquisition costs in the first weeks after the business shutdowns in March, but they have drastically reduced those expenditures when they saw revenues accelerate due to modern word-of-mouth marketing from satisfied customers, mostly parents, with substantial social media followings within their communities.
“They love our product and there’s nothing that sells a product better than someone loving the product,” said Eggert.
The synergy is seamless with “endorsements” from customers to which they give discount codes to share with their social media followers. Lisa-Jae and Jennifer chose the company name 3 Moms Organics because they’re the two moms and the customer is the third. By shifting growth strategies, the name holds more true than ever.They both had been going store-to-store to demonstrate how TickWise, made from natural essential oils, repels ticks that are prevalent on the East End and other wooded and grassy areas where deer and other animals they feed on roam. It is on the shelves of about 80 stores with the goal of expanding to another 100 retailers in the next year. When that opportunity sailed because of the coronavirus, they improved their website and reached a national direct-to-consumer audience they hadn’t yet tapped into.
“In this day and age, this takes the place of touching and feeling,” Eggert said, adding that everyone’s public feedback matters, “good and bad.”
Of their 6,000 percent increase in revenue, 5,000 percent of that 3 Moms Organics attributes to Facebook content from local influencers and their own pictures and videos. Eggert told Connolly and Carousso that education is important for 3 Moms’ success. One video they posted of ticks on a pink sheet avoiding the border where they sprayed TickWise is proof of concept.
They have also taken the last three months to improve the quality of their website.
“On our website, when you click on it, it immediately goes to our shop page, now,” Eggert said.
They continue to personally manufacture and ship TickWise across 47 states and Washington D.C., now that they are registered through the Environmental Protection Agency in all states except California, Maine and South Dakota. 3 Moms Organics also used the past three months to apply and receive the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise Certification (MWBE), which has opened new doors for potential revenue streams.
“Places like PSEG, they use that as a kind of vetting for us,” Eggert said. “They’re piloting our product on twelve of their trucks, and so far, the response has been fabulous.”
They developed TickWise in their homes to keep their children safe from further tick borne illnesses of which both families have histories. Decker had been experimenting with essential oils for at-home remedies for years and would spray early renditions of their product on her kids and dog before they went outside in Montauk. Eggert studied entomology and Earth sciences in college. They combined their expertise to produce a product that is effective, has a pleasant smell, provides skin nourishment, and is vegan for those who suffer from Alpha-Gal or meat allergies.
Two Long Island moms developed TickWise to keep their kids safe. When retailers shut down, they focused on digital marketing and boosted sales 6,000%.
Hear growth ideas for this tough economic climate with @JoeConnollybiz and @NeilACarousso: https://t.co/fl3D7mVzQH pic.twitter.com/G8OaaODBz0
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) July 15, 2020
Hear ideas on how to recover and grow your business even in this tough economic climate on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above.
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