BUSINESS: 4 Steps to Running Great Restaurant Delivery Service
Delivery services are becoming popular among consumers across the US, especially now with in-house dining being banned due to COVID-19. The biggest challenges facing restaurant delivery are speed, safety, and quality. Failing to deliver on any one of those can impact the customer’s perception of your brand. Maintaining food quality, keeping it stays safe for consumption throughout the delivery process, and delivering so on time is a difficult balancing act that requires detailed planning and careful execution. Here are four areas to consider when starting a restaurant delivery part of your businesses.
DID YOU KNOWS….
Take a Cue from Rockwell’s
At this point, almost every restaurant can only serve delivery and takeout. So there’s still a risk of COVID-19 transmissions as your drivers or customers walk in and out of your door. Rockwell’s American Restaurant has created a nice fix for this by providing a hand wash and sanitation station outside of their front door. Not only is this good for people coming and going, but it’s also useful for passerbys who may need a quick sanitation refresh. It’s smart business and looking after staff and the community at the same time. Props to Rockwell’s!
37 Million Jobs at Risk
According to the Job Quality Index (JQI), a research project from Cornell Law School and the Coalition for a Prosperous America that assesses job quality in the United States, more than 37 million (mostly lower-wage) jobs may be vulnerable to short-term layoffs due to the COVID-19 crisis and the response to it.
US Food Security is Strong
Even though demand for food and other items is currently unprecedented, cleaned-out supermarket aisles do not necessarily mean there's an actual shortage, but rather a bottleneck in the supply chain. Food is still being produced, packaged and shipped to retailers, though in many cases not at the pace required to meet current levels of demand. Interestingly, many of the countries experiencing chaos and panic buying in supermarkets are also the countries with the highest levels of food security worldwide.
Coronacrisis: Day 13
HERE’S HOW TO DO IT
Why it matters to you: How you respond to this crisis could be the difference in surviving it!
This crisis continues and this new reality calls for a change in operations. Sure, you are offering delivery and encouraging your guests to buy gift cards to support your business, but is that gonna be enough? Maybe, but counting on it is a recipe for further disaster. That’s why we wanted to highlight a couple of excellent examples for you to consider when determining your own response.
Let’ start with All Together Now, a Chicago area restaurant that has completely transformed their business and website to accommodate this new world we inhabit. On their homepage they have combined their menus, guidance on social distancing, and other food order related navigation. They also clearly explain how you can gain access to their food either by delivery or pickup and provide links to the appropriate menus. This embrace of the new service paradigm makes it clear to guests that you are 100% into this change and ready (and reliable) to continue service.
Other operators have embraced a different approach that focuses on the specifics of how they serve.
The Washington D.C.-based Farmers Restaurant Group was forced to lay-off 1,000 people last week and reduce salaries of everyone else by 70%. But they have also turned their restaurants into markets where guests can now become grocery shoppers. The pivot was to premade meal kits and other conveniences to ensure guests have alternatives to crowded grocery stores during the crisis. It’s not perfect, but it has kept some folks working, guests eating, and the restaurant remains in the fight to survive the crisis.
No matter what you do in response, even if it is to close, it’s a deeply personal choice. We have no room for judgement on anyone’s choices. We simply suggest that in this time of crisis you choose to retain your humanity while still considering how you protect your own family and stick around to see what’s next. We will do the same and be here to accompany where that next thing leads us all.
[Source: Bon Appetit & Nation’s Restaurant News]