In response to COVID-19, restaurants have been forced to reduce their offerings significantly: take out and delivery only. If your restaurant relies on the dine-in experience, such mandatory closures can feel catastrophic. They don’t have to be. Adjusting services, connecting to your community, and communicating with your customers is key to keeping your business profitable during the pandemic.
BrandRep can help. We rounded up a few key ways to shift your restaurant offerings, right here and now, to help offset the COVID-19 impact.
Curb Side Pick Up
While your customers may not be able to enjoy their favorite meal tableside, they can certainly pick it up – curbside! Introduce and advertise a safe, sanitary, and simple curbside service to ensure your patrons can still support your restaurant.
Consider training your servers to deliver food to parked cars or walk-up patrons safely, and broadcast the availability of this service across your email list and social media platforms.
Note: Your servers must wear sanitary, disposable gloves and face masks to provide a sense of security for all involved. Patrons are far more likely to support a favorite eatery if they feel the proper safety measurements are in place.
Delivery
Never made the jump to delivery? Now might be the right time. Offer patrons a way to enjoy restaurant-quality food from the comfort (and safety) of their own homes.
Time to get the word out! Consider contacting restaurant regulars to inform them of this new option, creating clear signage for your location of all offerings, and even updating your online presence to reflect all possibilities.
If you’re interested in delivering services
Note: If you would like help setting up online ordering for your business today, please contact us for more information. Popular apps like Uber Eats, Postmates, and DoorDash will work with you as a built-in delivery service. Explore those options if service is a concern.
Meal Prep Services & Family Boxes
Your customers may be looking for the security and feasibility of prepared meals to stock in their fridge.
Most consumers would jump at the opportunity to have restaurant-quality food available and ready at their convenience, especially if it means one less meal to cook for the family. With most households quarantined at home, it’s a safe assumption that even those who enjoy cooking would appreciate the help. Whether a family meal or weeks’ worth of lunches, your options are endless.
- Create a Family Box filled with full servings of popular dishes, accompanying sides, and dessert for a simple total. Enough for the whole family to enjoy!
- Turn favorite dishes into ‘meal prep’ styled takeaways.
- Offer ‘Take and Bakes’ for pasta dishes or bread.
- Offer in bulk: For example, a restaurant may offer a pound of carnitas, a quart of beans, a quart of rice, 20 tortillas, etc., to help customers feel like they’re ‘fully stocked.’
Coupons
Coupons can easily entice customers – both new and repeat. What’s your new item or most popular dish? Consider offering a coupon to increase interest!
You can even provide a coupon for another order as a “Thank You” and way to ensure repeat business. Get creative! Your customers will want to support their favorite eatery and enjoy quality food – especially if they’re financially incentivized to do so!
Gift Cards
Consider offering and promoting the purchase of gift cards – whether donated to others, used during quarantine, or even redeemed post-pandemic – gift cards are a great option! Take to your social media accounts to encourage gift card purchasing and even spark interest with added benefits such as $25 matched for every $100 spent.
Venmo
Does your restaurant accept Venmo? They should now.
Venmo is an app that lets users share currency from bank accounts with ease, meaning your customers could pre-pay for their pickup order, delivery order, or even gift card. With increased concerns around handling money and even leaving home, easy online payment makes pandemic purchases all that much easier for your diners to transact.
