Restaurants: Tips on Surviving COVID-19

What can restaurants do to stay afloat in this time of uncertainty and plan for recovery. These tips are based on my observation and close contact with the hundreds of locations our company serves. No business is prepared to lose 70-100% of their revenue, and not many can survive long in that state. That’s the reality for most restaurants in the Atlanta area for the last two weeks and undetermined days ahead. 

My conversations with restaurant owners this week have a different tone than they did 2-3 weeks ago, and it’s encouraging. Even though we still do not know the extent of time our dining rooms will be closed (in most places around Atlanta), restaurants are now accepting this reality and concentrating efforts on creative solutions. 

Here is a short list of tips and suggestions that are echoed and put into action by other restaurants in the metro Atlanta area. This list is by no means exhaustive. Please do send us feedback, thoughts, and comments.

• Online ordering and curbside should be part of the new overall business model. If you haven’t done this by now, it should be top priority. For many restaurants, it’s painfully clear that they ignored something that could have been a vital piece contributing to their bottom line. It’s also a simple way to diversify and make your business more flexible and resilient. All restaurants are being hit hard through this–some harder than others. We’ve heard anywhere from a 100% to only 30% decrease in business. The few restaurants on the latter part already had a thriving online and/or delivery business. 
• When implementing online ordering and curbside, have the following in mind:
  • Look for an online partner that allows you to keep the most margin. Many companies in this space understand the difficulties you’re going through and will get you setup for minimal investment, some may even do it for free if it’s attached to other services (Point of Sale, Food Distributors, etc)
  • Make it contactless. Not only is it more efficient, but it’s safer given our current situation. If you’re going to do curbside, have a way that you can do a contactless payment instead exchanging a pen and paper, and your germs.
  • Make curbside totally contactless by having a process in place to drop the appropriate food without needed to exchange with the customer. Some of the things we’ve seen restaurants currently doing is popping the trunk and the server puts the food in there, or put the food on the hood and allow the customer to get it after you walk off. Have a way to clearly communicate these instructions during the ordering process and signage at the pickup spot.
• Offer delivery and have the staff that would otherwise be unemployed help do deliveries. 
• Get creative with your menu. We’ve seen locations offer take home options that give the customer the ingredients and easy to follow instructions to prepare at home.
• Family Meals. Family’s are stuck indoors. Offer deals that feeds all of them.
• If possible, utilize the downtime to fix those tables strategically propped up on stacked coasters, refinish the bar, or do a deep clean. If you’re on social media, show all your customers that you’re using the downtime to improve their local spot. People are sitting in home offices undoubtedly trolling away on social media. Take advantage of that.
• Cash Discounting or Surcharging. This is a controversial topic with some. Others have been on the fence about whether to do it or not. Essentially you’re passing through your processing fees to the customer, regardless of what verbiage you choose to use or what’s legal in your state. This is a time when customers are very in tune with how a small business is struggling and will need to cut costs in order to survive in the new normal. This may be a good time to pull the trigger on this, you could always roll this back at an appropriate time when the economy start to return.
• Many of the locations we’ve spoken to have started selling meal kits that can be prepared at home.