Landscaping Company Owner Tweaks Business Model During Ice And Snow Storm

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – The owner of a landscaping company is tweaking his business model during the ice and snowstorms.

February is typically slow for landscaping companies, but not long after the winter storms blew through, the owner of Cornerstone Landscapes, found there was lots of work for his employees, providing a valuable service to local businesses.

Early Thursday morning, Chris Bennett and several employees were maneuvering skid steers through the parking lot at Texas Roadhouse.

“We’re going to use the Harley Rake to break through the ice and use the skid steers to scoop it up and push it off the parking lot,” Bennett said.

Cornerstone’s snow and ice removal services began earlier in the week, with a phone call from a fellow landscaper.

“We honestly were just trying to help out some other landscapers, the first phone call we got was from another landscaper in town, and we decided we would help him out and people started seeing us, they started calling, then we started getting phone calls and requests through our website,” Bennett said.

Bennett and his crews are booked solid plowing parking lots. And as a small business owner, the experience proves a basic business principle.

“Adaptability, take the circumstances, adapt to it and keep pushing, always look for another way,” he said.

Carson Cryder is thankful his boss found a way to keep everyone on the job.

“I love it, strives for business for us, 2020 was bad and we’re just trying to get the business growing,” Cryder said.

Things aren’t slowing down, Bennett anticipates he will be busy through the weekend, helping businesses get ready to open their doors once everything thaws out.

For lunch breaks, Bennett and his crew either try and find a restaurant that is open, or his wife has agreed to cook for the crew while many of the restaurants are closed.