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In addition to the airline and hotel industries, restaurants are some of the hardest hit these days from COVID-19. So what should restaurants do?
In this article, we will see how to maintain a restaurant during coronavirus lockdown.
Safely protect your food preparation
If you are lucky enough to be open for pickup and delivery orders, you should take great precautions with your food preparation.
There would be nothing worse for a restaurant owner and staff than to know that their carelessness led to a customer falling ill, with its consequences.
It is worth noting that according to the WHO, there is no proof of transmission of COVID-19 through food
That said, your staff can transmit the virus through face-to-face contact in pickup and delivery situations. Also, if your staff touch take-out containers with an ungloved hand, they can transmit the virus in this way.
Therefore, give your staff clear hygiene guidelines to reduce the possibility of transmission.
This has nothing to do with technology, but it is worth remembering.
Start a subscription service
Restaurants around the world are getting creative to stay active and not have two or three months with zero billing and having to pay everything that a restaurant entails.
What could you implement? Offer a weekly subscription service to your customers. You can send the information through their email lists, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and post it on your website.
Could be like this:
Customers can sign up to have their favorite appetizers, entrees, and desserts delivered to their home on a specific day and time each week.
Or, because you have a varied menu, they could sign up for pizza on Monday, soup and salad on Tuesday, fried chicken fillet on Wednesday, and so on.
You can offer a discount based on how many days they choose to subscribe.
Doing this is easy: PayPal offers payment systems that you can complete with WhatsApp or Telegram, or create an online ordering service on your website with WooCommerce and a couple of extensions.
Invest now? Yes, if you want to be active during confinement, which has been going on for a month, and may last a few more.
Offers for home delivery
While takeout and delivery options are not going to sustain the restaurant business in the long term, it is very possible that they will keep them afloat in the short term.
And, these options will give more members of your team the opportunity to stay on the payroll instead of going unemployed or doing an ERTE.
Many restaurants give up subscribing to delivery services and do it on their own.
Why? Much of your front desk staff can now work in the pickup and drop off areas, so they can keep their jobs.
If you cannot access services such as Glovo or Deliveroo, or they are not active in your locality, you can refocus your staff to do it yourself: with orders by WhatsApp or Telegram and payments via PayPal or Bizum you can do it without physical contact or use of cards or cash money.
In addition, publish on social networks and your website how your staff uses gloves, masks and everything they need while preparing each meal, have a delivery person record how they leave the food on the landing or door of the house and ensure delivery with the proper safety distance. This will give your customers security.
Create gift cards
Many restaurants are encouraging their customers to rack up gift cards for both themselves and their friends and family.
They can then use these gift cards when the Coronavirus is a landscape we only see in the rearview mirror. It’s another creative option for the restaurant business, fostering continued customer loyalty when this cloud rises.
All restaurant businesses have one common goal: to serve their community and keep them safe while doing so.
As the actor said Matthew McConaughey in a recent Twitter video:
“Right now, more than ever, we are all more dependent on each other than ever.”
Right now, your customers still want their food, but may be too scared to go out looking for it. Do your best to communicate with them through all your digital channels to let them know how you are going to keep your restaurant safe while making sure they have access to the menu.
This won’t last forever, and you can maintain your restaurant during the Coronavirus with great hygiene and a little creativity thanks to simple and cheap technologies.