Food Apps Blog - 2022

How Restaurants can Minimize the Impact of COVID-19

The restaurant industry is having a hard time under the disturbing effects of the coronavirus because the restaurant and bars have been ordered to shut down in several cities and states across the world as a safety measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Different instructions across the country are affecting the restaurant owners and workers in several ways but it is a fact that all are facing the problem of lost business as well as wages. How long the situation of this pandemic attack will last is not known to anyone as there is uncertainty everywhere. The only thing that is well-known is that it is going to get worse before the normality resumes. We can only hope the situation gets better very soon. Industry officials have said that the many small businesses will find it difficult to recover from the pandemic without help from the Government. 

How Your Restaurant Can Respond To Coronavirus

Restaurants can take some preventive and proactive measures to minimize the slowdown of their revenue, let their revenue inflows going-on and help your restaurant return to a normal routine after the situation gets to normal. 

1. Make your Restaurant a Safe Place: The first thing to do is to make your restaurant a safe place for your guests. Keep your restaurant as clean as possible. The coronavirus is coated in an oily membrane so it collapses when washed with soap and water. Give your team antibacterial gloves particularly if they handle the cash counter. Take special care to all the surfaces that are touched by the people such as switches, door handles, etc. Take necessary measures to sanitize or disinfect your restaurant. Doing all these things is not enough you must let your customers know that you are taking all precautions to make your restaurant safe from the coronavirus. Leave a clue of disinfectant in the air. Use disinfectant napkins to service. If you are putting more space between the tables, show it on social media. Doing all these things is necessary as if you fail to do so then consider that your restaurant is going to shut down soon because guaranteeing sanitizing conditions is what everyone is focusing on right now. 
2. Train your Staff to Deal with Sick Customers: If you want to stay open in the course of coronavirus outbreak then apart from thorough sanitization you should keep your staff as well as guest safe. Many restaurants are taking the temperature of its customers at the door not letting them enter if someone shows symptoms of coronavirus or if someone denies getting himself checked. Besides that train your staff on how to react when a customer starts showing symptoms like sneezing, cough, etc.  Some things which can be done are: 

1. Provide your staff with personal protective care equipment such as face masks and hand gloves.
2. Provide the guest sanitizer or disinfectant immediately.
3. Appear quickly with tissues and napkins at the spot. 
4. Provide your guest medical resources immediately. 
5. Disinfect everything the table, glasses, and utensils the suspected guest has touched.  

All that you need to ensure that you must have all the plans for dealing with a sick customer at the same time protecting your other customers and employees.

3. Find-out from where you can Save Cost: Below mentioned are a few points from where you can save cost:

1. Food Cost Savings: You can analyze your Point-of-Sale (POS) Data and find if you could temporarily eliminate a few menu items. You can ask your purchasing unit to see the latest purchase history from the POS system and look for those which are ordered less and those that are ordered more.  
2. You can Partner with Nearby Restaurants: you can share resources, kitchen space, staff, etc. of a nearby restaurant as no one is a competitor now. Everyone is in this critical situation is together right now. 
3. Stay Updated to Avail Assistance: The government in every country is planning to provide business especially small business fiscal assistance to help businesses survive as the pandemic grows. Although, details of any such plans are not clear till now, but if any such plans are implemented stay updated and avail any kind of assistance offered for your business. 

What are the Tips that can be used for Driving Income in Coronavirus Pandemic?

You should find some creative ways to bring your customers back when things will be normal. Following are a few tips in this regard:

1. Invest in Marketing: In order to keep traffic flowing in this pandemic you must promote food holiday events, e-mail marketing and use social media: 
2. Promote Food Holiday Events: Due to social distancing people are visiting restaurants less frequently but they might come for a visit at certain calendar events such as Easter. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a hygienic environment in your restaurant and also let your customers know that you are having a safe and clean environment at your restaurant. 
3. Social Media Marketing: Make sure to be present on social media so that your loyal customers must know that you are open, let them know that you are putting all your efforts by sanitizing your place, and inform them about the events you are planning. 
4. E-mail Marketing: It is a great way to reach people in a lockdown situation. If you have a list of the e-mail address of your guests, you can send them messages to give them updates about any promotions going-on in your restaurant. 
5. Offer Food Delivery: As people are advised to keep social distance with each other most of people are not leaving their homes even if they want to have their favorite food badly. In that case, if your restaurant is offering food delivery they will definitely like to place an order at your place.  If the food delivery is contact-less delivery than then it will be much better. 
6. Market Gift Cards: You can sell your customers gift cards for future dining experiences as this will help them to make plans after the situation will return to normal after some time. You can market gift cards as a community-minded purchase for those customers who want to lend a helping hand to your restaurant in this crisis with some cash flow.
7. Focus on Personalized Marketing: Getting your regular customers engaged in this critical situation of coronavirus is a tough task. Regular customers are those whose preferences are known to you and you can serve them better than anyone else.  You must reach out to them with text messages, e-mail, calls or any other mode. Let them know that you are open and you are taking all safety precautions for maintaining a clean and hygienic environment at your restaurant where they can feel safe to din-in.  

Although, coronavirus pandemic has spread so fast across the globe that no one was given time to think and plan for some measures to deal with this tough time. But we can’t just wait and watch for this situation to get over because we don’t know how much time it will take us to overcome this situation. So, we should fight back and find some ways to maintain our business continuity.