By Justin Aucoin, Content Director, The Rail Media

Not to beat a dead horse, but COVID-19 turned the world upside down. And few industries were hit harder than the restaurant industry. More than 110,000 restaurants closed in 2020, many never to open their doors again.

The good news is that the restaurants that survived the ordeal are energized to start serving guests in person and improving their business. And they’re going to need a lot of help from their business partners like you.

Vendors that service the restaurant industry should be interested in what restaurant owners, operators, and managers are planning for the rest of 2021 and beyond – including their biggest concerns, their primary areas of focus for the next year, and what sort of support they expect from you, their partners.

We surveyed our subscribers to find out just how COVID-19 changed their business and what they’re planning on doing next. If you’re interested in talking more about our results or how you can best connect to our audience, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

An Industry Changed

Restaurants subscribed to The Rail Media and SportsTV Guide felt the crunch of COVID-19, just as much as any other restaurant out there. More than three-quarters (77%) were forced to shut their doors to in-person dining for up to 8 months; another 2% are still closed to in-house guests. This has resulted in 54% of restaurants seeing up to a 50%+ drop in revenue compared to 2019.

To stay afloat, restaurants had to adapt fast. The vast majority (86%) changed seating layout to allow for socially distance safe in-house dining. Nearly two-thirds (63%) laid off staff to lower operating costs, and half (51%) added contactless tech, alleviating guests concerns about catching the virus via touch.

And the good news for restaurant owners and the companies that partner with them, 81% of restaurants are extremely confident they’ll still be operating a year from now. They feel like they’ve survived the storm and are now shifting their focus to making up what they lost.

👉What This Means to You

Vendors in the restaurant industry should keep all this in mind when interacting with decision makers or looking to expand their own business offerings to bars & restaurants. The old ways of doing business has changed; how you interact and work with restaurants need to change, too.

Restaurants lost a lot in 2020, and operators are looking for strong partnerships to get back on their feet.

Big Concerns & Bigger Focus Coming Out of COVID-19

The restaurant industry lost 2.5 million employees due to COVID-19. There’s a mix of reasons for this, such as 63% of restaurants laying off a portion of their team during the pandemic. But for many former-restaurant works, the low pay isn’t worth it, especially considering the health risks of working with potentially unvaccinated guests in person.

All this means that staffing (both hiring and retention) is the top concern for operators currently (91%). Driving traffic (32%) and staying open (24%) round out their biggest concerns. It’s hard to run a successful business if there’s no one working in it, and operators know this.

Unsurprisingly, hiring and retaining their staff (82%) is where they’re putting most of their focus over the next year. There’s a large labor pool and operators have a chance to build an impressive team – if they can convince people to come back to work for them.

Meanwhile, working on guest services and operations (68%) and building new revenue opportunities (33%) round out operators’ biggest focuses for the next year.

👉What This Means to You

Vendors who can help restaurants in these areas are poised to earn operators’ trust, loyalty, and business. This can be done in a variety of ways – such as direct solutions that help fill in the gaps or content marketing pieces that guide operators toward alleviating these concerns. Understand the industry’s pain points and provide ideas & solutions to minimize them.

The Rail Media and SportsTV Guide can help you craft a campaign to reach our audience that does just that. Get in touch to learn more.

Looking For Vendor Support

Even though it appears the worst of the pandemic is behind us, it doesn’t mean that things are back to normal. It’ll take a while for restaurants to get back to where they were in 2019 and they’re looking for a helping hand from the vendors they partner with.

Specifically, they’re hoping for better financial terms from their vendor partners (51%), promotional prizes or offers they can pass on to their guests (44%), and marketing services (33%).

👉What This Means to You

Vendors should definitely keep all of this in mind when negotiating and working with restaurants. If you can provide operators with a better overall deal than your competitors, you’re going to win business. And while this is true in even the best of years, it goes deeper than just the final bill. Being able to help restaurants get an edge over their own competitors with prizes/offers or help marketing to their local area will count for a lot as restaurants look to bounce back. Build an offer operators can’t refuse and look for ways of going the extra mile.

Restaurants Software Needs

A third of restaurants (30%) plan on purchasing and implementing new software over the next year. The top software types include:

1. POS System (65%)

2. Contactless Technology (62%)

3. Mobile Payment (50%)

4. Inventory/Supply Management (39%)

👉What This Means to You

This is great news for software vendors vying for position in the restaurant industry. Typically restaurants are extremely reluctant to buy or upgrade their current software, even though they know doing so is good for their business. That view is changing which means business opportunities for software companies. Vendors dealing with any of these software types should consider increasing their marketing efforts and messaging to restaurant operators soon if they haven’t already. And software vendors who have solutions that either contain multiple items in the above list or integrate smoothly with others will find more success.

Shoot us a message if you’re interested in getting your company’s message across to our daily newsletter subscribers and site visitors.

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SOURCE: Survey & Analysis by The Rail Media
© 2021, The Rail Media

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