Spreadsheets
Holiday hours planner for franchise networks
A shared spreadsheet for corporate and franchisees to set every location's holiday hours ahead of time, and to see at a glance which ones are still missing.
Download holiday-hours-planner.xlsxBefore every holiday, someone at corporate asks every location the same question: are you open? The answers come back by email, text and phone, and some take a few reminders. This planner puts every location and every upcoming holiday on one sheet.
Share it with your franchisees a month before the season starts. Each location fills in its own row: Usual hours, Closed, or its special hours written in the cell, such as 10 AM to 3 PM. Then it adds a name and a date in the confirmed columns. The bottom row counts, for each holiday, the locations that have not answered yet.
Once the sheet is complete, each location still needs its hours in three places: the website, its Google Business Profile special hours and its social posts. Brandyland nudges each location before every holiday to set its hours, and its network health dashboard shows corporate which ones have not.
What is in the file
One row per location, with its name and city. One column for each of the next eight holidays in date order, with the date under each name: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. Each cell takes Usual hours, Closed or Special hours from a drop-down, or the special times written in. Confirmed by and date confirmed columns record who set the row. The bottom row counts, for each holiday, the locations with no answer yet. Room for 150 locations, with one example row to delete.
Download holiday-hours-planner.xlsxAn Excel file. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers. No sign-up, no email.
Questions
Questions people ask
Which holidays are in the sheet?
The next eight from the day you download it, in date order: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. Add a column for any other day your locations change hours, such as Easter or a school break, and delete any you do not need.
What counts as not set?
An empty cell next to a location's name. Ask locations to pick Usual hours when nothing changes, rather than leave the cell blank, so an empty cell always means nobody has decided yet.
Who should fill it in?
Each location fills in its own row, and the person who does adds their name and the date in the confirmed columns. Corporate reviews the sheet and follows up with anyone who still has gaps.
Does this update our Google listing?
No. It is a planning sheet. Each location still sets special hours in its Google Business Profile and updates its website. Check both once the sheet is complete.
Want this done for every location, automatically?
Brandyland runs the website, the replies and the reminders for every location of a franchise. Leave your email and a person replies within a day.