The restaurant industry under COVID19
COVID19, along with its consequential economic crisis, has induced shock, distress, and panic all around the world. Among all the fields, restaurants have received the heaviest blow and are affected severely.
Ever since the COVID19 outbreak in early 2020, the number of cases surged to millions in just a few. All over the world the borders were closed and pleaded for people who are affected to quarantine and practice social distancing. As a result, more people preferred home-cooked meals over dine-in at restaurants. Many state officials announced to shut down on-site dining restaurants. This closure of restaurants means that these businesses and their corresponding staff will take a blow in months to come.
Source: Womply
The effects of lockdown were seen immediately: Many restaurants were closed; workers were terminated. Overall, there’s a cut of more than 3 million jobs.
In March 2020 alone, the restaurant revenue was down by 47% with 56% of restaurants announced permanent or temporary closures. The total revenue loss was around $25 billion. What a dooming time for the whole industry!
Restaurants Strategies under COVID19
This situation has forced most of the industries to alter their business model and adjust to the new normal. To support social distancing and continue to generate revenues; restaurants under COVID 19 went ahead and remodeled their services in various ways.
Few restaurant strategies under COVID 19 to reduce social interactions are:
Contactless delivery
Contactless delivery, or ‘no-contact delivery’, is the approach in which the shipper delivers an order without making any physical contact with the receiver. The contactless restaurant has become a huge trend in this pandemic.
Take-outs and drive-through
It has become a more efficient way for customers to have delicious food from restaurants under COVID19 without breaking any rules. In the US, 41.7 % of customers prefer to take-out food under normal circumstances.
Contactless payment
The government highly recommends hands-free payments for both takeaway and delivery. It’s vital to download certain payment applications that help payment transfer with just a tap of the card.
Updating your restaurant website
A website is an interactive and trustworthy platform to communicate with your customers. Owners should regularly update locations, photos, menu, contact information, and safety regulations of your restaurant under COVID19 on the website. This helps customers feel more well-informed and secure when ordering from your restaurants.
Curbside pickup
This is very similar to buying online, pick up in-store. Here you have to collect the order from a location that is convenient to you, rather than have the food delivered directly to your front door.
Assuring restaurant safety and sanitation measures
Restaurant owners must show that they are aware of safety measures like frequent hand washing and disinfecting surfaces in restaurants, as implemented by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Be creative with promotions
There are few other things that can help to overcome the impact of Covid 19 by providing coupons/ vouchers/ gift cards, meal/ baking/ pizza kits. Promote your restaurant under COVID19 on social media and emails simultaneously. Take care of the local community, so that they can take care of each other.
Use automation
Running an online business under COVID19 should be abnormal and challenging for many restaurants. Categorizing every order, extract sales data, or answer the customers on every platform all at once can be confusing. Consequently, many restaurant owners had integrated automation applications to streamline their business and maintain their revenue.
COVID 19 pandemic is a worldwide crisis, no one knows how long it will last. Using this as an opportunity to build new relationships with advanced measures and initiatives, you can help not only your business but also consumers adapt to the new normal.
