COVID-19 Recommendations for Restaurants
The restaurant industry has sustained serious blows due to COVID-19, including slashed revenue, closed dining rooms and furloughed staff.
With these challenges comes the question:
How can restaurants continue to adapt around the pandemic, especially as stay-at-home deadlines continue to extend across the U.S.?
Our research found that restaurants are innovating to stay in business, even during social distancing:
Keep marketing via digital channels.
- As told by Bentobox: “All eyes are on social media, email, and websites as people are looking for ways to help and support restaurants, as well as order goods for themselves. This is where digital marketing comes into play, especially now.” That includes driving home the fact that your restaurant is open, posting information about how to order, and keeping information up-to-date across your social channels and website.
- Turn to eCommerce or third-party delivery.
ECommerce is a lifeline for many small businesses trying to keep their supply chain open during COVID-19. If launching eCommerce on your restaurant’s website isn’t available to you at this time, integrating third-party delivery options like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats can take care of transactions for a cut of the profit.
- Shift to a grocery model.
In states where in-house dining is shuttered, restaurants like Indulge Bistro & Wine Bar have shifted to a grocery model, offering boxes of food products and tables of individual entrees for takeout.
- Take care of others while taking care of your own.
886 in New York City is donating bento boxes to emergency workers, with all profits going to support the restaurant’s kitchen staff. Eric Sze of 886 commented on the success of the Bento Essential program: “People were overwhelmingly supportive. The first day, we sold all 60 bento boxes in an hour… Within a week, we got $20,000. The second week, we were at $40,000. We’re able to pay our staff a set “salary” each week. It’s less than what they used to make, but they tell me it’s enough to get by.”
How is your restaurant handling social distancing? Take our survey and be entered to receive $100 in Facebook or Google Ads credits.
