Good News for Restaurant Owners: After being jarringly disrupted and almost devastated by the coronavirus, the restaurant industry is gearing up for a comeback. Corona exit strategies for restaurants are being formulated even while mandatory shutdowns and restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic continue. Given that different parts of the country are at varying stages of corona, each states timetable for opening up will differ. Nevertheless, expect a gradual, phased exit scenario that allows customers to begin visiting your business again and eventually, dine in.
Planning for Your Restaurant’s Post-Corona Re-Launch
More positive news for restaurateurs! If you have been among the fortunate who survived the pandemic by turning your brick-and-mortar eatery into a takeout-only restaurant or a ghost kitchen where social distancing, strict hygiene protocols, and contactless delivery became the new norm – you are in luck. Non-contact customer service, curbside deliveries, and drive-through options are still very much on the menu even after COVID-19 begins to fade. And while ‘back to business’ is music to many long-awaiting ears, ‘business as usual’ is not in the forecast. Rather, there is a new global reality and post-corona, restaurant owners will have to once again reformulate their business model and method of operations in order to serve their customers safely.
Catering to Shifting Consumer Demands
On the bright side, by adhering to the post-COVID foodservice mandates set forth by your local health authorities, you will simultaneously be catering to a new set of consumer concerns and demands. If 5-star restaurant ratings were based on taste and menu selection in the past, today you can expect hygiene, social distancing protocols, and food safety to trump the former. Moreover, transparency about your food or beverage operation will be a game-changer in the race for the top spot.
In the words of Anurag Katiyar, president of the National Restaurant Association of India: “Your marketing message in the post-COVID era will be less about your chicken and more about hygiene. Hygiene will change after the COVID-19 pandemic the way security changed after the 9/11 terror attacks.”
And when it comes to your customers, here are the words of one diner who took part in a recent consumer study by Datassential: “I would be pleased to go through a thorough check-up before entering a restaurant. This would give me the confidence that everyone around has gone through the same procedure and I am safe while I am there.
How QR Codes are Transforming the Post-Corona Restaurant Industry
One way to appeal to customers’ new sensitivities is to post online videos of your latest cooking, packaging, and delivery strategies. For example, one restaurant reported a boost in sales after releasing “… a video that shows how we package everything, bring it out to the car and put the package where our guests ask us too.”
However, there is a new player in town when it comes to post-corona restaurant success – and it’s known as quick-response or QR codes. While QR codes are not new to the business world, having debuted in Japan’s automotive industry in 1994, their prolific use in foodservice has skyrocketed in the wake of the coronavirus. Similar to the barcodes you find at supermarkets, QR codes consist of a series of black squares and dots which represent pieces of information. Making headlines as part of China’s technological innovations in the fight against the pandemic, the color-based codes – which are available as a free, open-source smartphone app – serve as a COVIDTracker that can trace who has been exposed to the virus while still preserving privacy.
Green, for example, indicates that a given individual is risk-free or at a low-risk for infection and has been granted unrestricted movement. Restaurants the world over are now maximizing QR codes as a social-distancing and customer service tool in the drive for thriving in a post-COVID age.
How to Add QR Codes to your Restaurant’s Menu
So how can your restaurant make best use of this technology as you plan for your upcoming re-launch? One of the easiest ways is to integrate the QR Code APIs with a food delivery or other restaurant platform app. By displaying a hygiene rating scale along with other food safety measures, this easy to use application enables customers’ to scan QR codes with their own personal devices.
Post-COVID Restaurant Screening
If the sight of face masks, disposable gloves, rearranged furniture to create distance, and markers on floors where lines may form once surprised you, you may be blown away about what’s to come in a global restaurant industry trying to come back from COVID-19.
To ensure and reassure customers that no one on your premises has COVID symptoms, some of the latest restaurant supplies include:
- Infrared thermometers that measure each guest’s temperature before they enter the door
- Thermal scanners and cameras used to detect infected individuals
- Required self-declaration forms (powered by QR codes) at entrances affirming customers’ health status (i.e. if they participated in a self-isolation or self-quarantine and their recent travel history)
Restaurant Best Practices for Exiting Corona
As restaurants prepare to reopen to the public, remember that the coronavirus has not yet been eradicated and that hygiene best practices must still be maintained. Fortunately, the National Restaurant Association has released a COVID-19 reopening guide for professionals to ensure a safe, secure environment for both employees and diners. With input from the FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), here are some of their recommendations (which you can download from the NRA website). Included also is expert advice from Mandy Sedlak, food safety and public health manager for Ecolab’s Ecosure division.
- Continue social distancing measures, such as limiting the number of individuals allowed on the premises at one time, a revamped seating plan where guests sit six-feet apart, reduced traffic/crowding at entrance and exit points, and designated pickup locations for takeout orders.
- Additional strategies to help reduce gatherings in waiting areas include advanced reservations, texting customers when their table is ready, and seating plans mapped out in advance to accommodate the expected number of guests
- Continue to promote takeout and delivery services that limit the number of customers in your establishment and that help keep your staff safe
- Maintain the employee hand-washing policies and disinfection procedures you already have in place, including regularly sanitizing surfaces such as counters, door handles, chairs, tabletops, bathrooms, faucets, and toilet flush levers, as well as the use of paperless or disposable paper menus
- All restaurants should have on hand an EPA-registered disinfectants for use against viruses. Bathrooms and sinks should also be regularly cleaned and restocked with soap, paper towels and toilet paper, and providing hand sanitizers to diners as they enter and leave your establishment is also recommended
- Update your employee training and compliance program that spells out: sickness policies, personal hygiene expectations, safe food prep procedures, and cleaning/sanitizing/disinfecting protocols
- Finally: If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to invest in some of the latest corona-related restaurant products flooding the market. Recommended by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), these include sneeze guards for buffet bars and restaurant safety partitions and safety shields between cashiers and customers, and between tables to create more distance and keep everybody safe
Anticipate Supply Chain Issues
As you plan your restaurant’s corona exit strategy, keep in mind that one of the forecasted challenges you may face is a shortage in restaurant supply chains. This applies particularly to sanitation products and personal protective equipment, however it pertains also to certain food products, utensils, and takeout packaging that may take longer to arrive or be unavailable in large quantities.
Applying for Emergency Funding
If you find your restaurant in need of some extra cash in order to reopen after corona, the federal emergency loans that were available until now may be insufficient. Be sure to check out companies such as Womply, the marketing and CRM software firm that helps small businesses thrive, which has risen to the occasion by teaming up with FundRocket to create Stimulus2020. If you run a local business, they will invest $1,000 in your operation at no fee, zero interest, and with flexible repayment terms.
Restarting Your Equipment
Corona non-withstanding, at the end of the day, remember that what you do best – and what brings customers to your door – is provide great food and drinks and a killer menu. As you prepare to don your chef’s hats and oven mitts once again, pull out the frying pan, light up the oven and grill, polish your glassware, and prepare some celebratory cocktails, remember to carefully follow instructions on how to restart equipment that has been out of use for a long period of time. For example, to restart your ice machine, be sure to replace the water filters and clean the storage bin and beverage dispenser according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Ditto for restarting your refrigerator.
Marketing Your Revamped, Post-COVID 19 Foodservice
Finally: Promote, promote, promote! Shout the news of your upcoming re-launch through the rooftops and spread the good word about your anticipated re-opening online. Let your customers know what you have been up to and how you plan to cater to their food cravings, safety needs, and menu desires in the near future.
With topnotch customer service continuing to be at the top of your agenda, perhaps you’ll even experience some of the unprecedented expressions of customer appreciation that made food industry headlines when a customer left a $1,300 ‘welcome back’ tip to support a Texas restaurant on the day of its reopening after the coronavirus shutdown…
Good Luck and Good Fortune!