COVID-19 Strategy: Restaurants
Restaurants Must Respond to COVID-19 With The Right Business Strategy
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted the global restaurant industry. In the world of coronaviruses (SARS, MERS, COVID-19), consumers stay at home and practice social distancing. In response to changing purchaser habits, restaurants and foodservice companies must adopt the right COVID-19 business strategy.
Focus on Business Essentials
Any restaurant that is still afloat must focus on essential business processes while ensuring that the supply chain is operational. Restaurants and food services companies must outsource non-essential supply chain processes, including food production, processing, and distribution. Restaurants should focus on cooking food, nothing else.
Offer On-Demand Food Delivery
Consumers want food on-demand, delivered quickly, from their mobile phones. In the world of COVID-19, restaurants must deliver food on-demand.
Implement Contactless Delivery
Customers prefer to receive food without coming into contact with the delivery person. The restaurants are responding to this trend by launching contactless or non-contact delivery options. Traditional delivery is no longer the norm in the world of coronaviruses.
Partner with Food & Beverage Delivery Companies
Customers expect real-time updates on their food deliveries. Setting up the delivery infrastructure takes time and has high capital costs. Luckily, restaurants don't need to re-invent the wheel by partnering with existing food and beverage delivery companies. In the world of COVID-19, restaurants must outsource the transportation of food to delivery companies. DoorDash, Foodora, Uber Eats, Just Eat, Skip The Dishes, Grubhub, Deliveroo, Seamless, Foodpanda, Postmates, Zomato, Swiggy, Fantuan, Ele.me, or Baemin come to mind.
Launch Weekly Food Delivery
People are creatures of habit. People often eat the same thing, at the same time, every week. Think "Pizza Fridays" or "Sushi Sundays." It's time for modern restaurants to adapt to this trend.
Repurpose Existing Workforce for Weekly Delivery
It's time for modern foodservice companies to implement weekly food delivery services. It's time to retrain and repurpose the existing workforce to perform weekly deliveries. Launch a small project in one city. Deliver food one day a week. Slowly expand to other days and other cities.
Develop or Outsource a Weekly Delivery Platform
Customers select what they want and receive the same food each week. Buyers pay with their credit cards. Implementing this recurring billing model will require software developers. Restaurants can build the delivery infrastructure in-house or outsource where possible.
Create New Eating Experiences
In a world where people perform remote work at home, restaurants must create new eating experiences. Changing food containers to allow customers to eat their meals on-the-go will ensure that consumers get what they want without being tied to a particular location.
Adjust Prices in Real-Time
Customers prefer convenience over price. In the world of coronavirus, restaurants are in the position to adjust their prices in real-time. Restaurants must embrace digital menus and alter their prices dynamically.
Launch Autonomous Food Delivery Projects
Today, on-demand food delivery is done mostly by human drivers and bikers. Consequently, companies take precautions to ensure the health safety of their employees, contractors, and customers. These precautions are not necessary if food is delivered autonomously. It's time for restaurants to implement self-driving robots, self-flying drones, or self-gliding parachutes. It's time for restaurants to use artificial intelligence technologies, such as deep learning, to solve autonomous navigation and autonomous delivery problems. In the world of COVID-19, restaurants can outsource food delivery using drones (Uber Eats or Antwork).
Take Action
To operate in the world of COVID-19, modern restaurants and foodservice companies must act boldly and adopt new business strategies!
What's your COVID-19 strategy?