Since the novel Coronavirus: COVID-19 emerged and started spreading rapidly throughout the world, restaurants and food businesses are eagerly looking forward to new prospects in generating revenue and keeping their staff employed while they are temporally closed at their physical locations. While the industry begins to recover from the pandemic, following are some positive ways that a restaurant business should focus on to fit the new today.
1. Post-Hygiene Practices
As instructed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the best ways to keep ourselves and others safe are to regularly wash hands with proper sanitary liquids, maintaining proper social distancing, and most importantly for businesses like restaurants to wipe surfaces as much as possible. posting about precautions your team is taking to ensure they don’t pass germs, in your social media channels, can encourage your customers to rely on your business.
2. Establish a Drop Off Service
Make sure to establish a way the food items at your local outlet to be delivered fresh and clean to customers’ doorstep. Having a solid plan to serve your customer will bring convenience and encouragement to everyone while securing their safety.
3. Offer Discounts and Free Add-Ons
Provide your customers with a little added push by giving them discounts and free add-ons. This can help you establish more leads to acquire more sales. Your food items will be endorsed to be popular among your customers for affordability.
4. Enable Pick Up
Offering a pick up option is a safe way for restaurants to sustain business during this period of time. A smart initiative such as enabling online payments with e-receipts or bank transfers will support your process as well as your customers.
5. Communicating with Customers
During the COVID-19 outbreak, reaching out to your customers with updates is an important initiative for a restaurant business as they make certain to keep all operations live. reach out to your customers Via Email, Social Media and direct text messages to communicate any changes that you are making, online ordering process, links, offers, , pick-up and take away information can help customers to remember the services that the restaurant offer.
“Some thoughts and strategies to overcome objection would include as described in www.hospitalitytech.com by Toby W.Malbec
- Increased spacing between tables and/or breaking up larger rooms into smaller sections
- Greater access (and visibility) or hygienic products such as wipes and sanitizers on tables and in public areas
- Cutlery, glassware, and plates cleaned at table side (or brought to the table packaged) for customer assurance
- Removal of salt and pepper shakers and provide either in packets or on demand
- Servers behind the counters in restaurants that offer buffets or salad bars
- Coverings over meal plates that are removed table side
- Pay-at-table functionality to avoid passing a credit card to a server
- Offering e-receipts in lieu of paper
- Digital menu boards or tablets with anti-microbial screens in lieu of paper menus”
With the expectation of drastic changes to the food industry, it is evident that restaurant owners should prepare themselves to address the objections of a scared and an emotionally unsettled customer. The more we come to a position to address their needs and fulfill their demands, the quicker that the industry will return to its former glory. However, in the future we should all be vigilant to use the right method to communicate with customers so that at the end of the day, satisfaction matters to run a successful business.
Source: Restaurant Business Model Changes in a Post COVID-19 World