This unprecedented event has caused uncertainty to millions and millions of businesses around the world.
Certain restaurants have stopped operating completely, others remain open for takeout and delivery.
Today I want to give four tips every restaurant owner should consider, whether they are open for business or plan on opening in the next coming weeks as the economy is showing signs of slowly reintroducing itself.
1: Accept Online Orders
It’s finally time to put your website to work! Humans have shown to be impatient beans, you want to give your audience the option of placing orders online directly on your website, there’s a ton of services out there that allow you to enable this feature on your companies website, all charging similar fees ($50\mo plus transaction fees of 2.9% + 30 cents)
A large portion of people don’t want to place an order via a phone call so not having online ordering available can have you missing a big part of the market which is the last thing you need during a crisis.
We understand that YOU have the best hamburger in the world, but say the 2nd or even 3rd best hamburger in the world is available for online delivery from your competition, and Sally doesn’t want the hassle of paying at the door, especially during these uncertain times, Sally will be eating the 2nd best hamburger tonight.
2. Communicate with your community.
How much time does the average person spend on Facebook and Instagram!?… Too much time! Use that to your advantage and make sure you are over communicating on Facebook, Instagram and Email.
If there’s one thing that’s on your side at the moment it’s “time”, so take the time to create valuable content, give background stories on some of your key dishes, the history of your business, etc etc.
The most important thing you can communicate with your followers is that your restaurant goes over and beyond when it comes to hygiene and health precautions! Don’t just write a generic message, take the time to show exactly what you are doing to ensure your customers safety. Even more so when people will be allowed to dine in, it will be your job to gain people’s confidence in stepping into your restaurant!
Side note!: The quality of your photos will matter, in a perfect world you would hire a local photographer to pop in and take some pictures of your most photogenic dishes, along with on-site protocols. If that isn’t in the budget, most cellphones have fantastic cameras along with great quality video capabilities for you to work with!
Here are a few tips that will help you take Scroll Stoppin’ Beauties!
What you don’t want to do is take a photo in the restaurant kitchen on your metal counter. Nothing about this scenery is appetizing.
Take the plates to a table that is situated by a window and use the natural light to your advantage. Don’t point the camera towards the sun, find an angle that lets the sun light up your dishes.
Oh! Another thing to consider, run Facebook and Instagram Ads on your content, targeting a certain KM radius from your business. This will help amplify your message and get your posts in front of a lot more people.
3. Use Third Party Delivery Services
If you’re not already on the top three delivery services of your city (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Skip The Dishes, Grubhub, and the list goes on and on) please do so now!
We understand these monsters are hurting the industry by clawing their nails deep into your profit margin. The 25-35% is just plain rude, but now is not the time to be a rebel. Don’t view these options as sales vehicles, see them more as marketing channels! Increasing visibility is always the priority, but now more than ever. Capture those eyeballs on these platforms, making more of your potential customers aware that you are in deed, Open For Business.
A big chunk of the people utilizing these platforms are usually sold on the concept of the app and not of your specific restaurant so remove this idea that you will be sabotaging your sales.
These platforms even allow you to make a condensed version of your menu, so strictly place the fan favourites and more profitable items on there to ensure less of a hit to your restaurant.
Now as I stated earlier you want to use these “UberEats Like” platforms as a marketing tool, so include a bounce back coupon to every order that goes out, which leads me our final point.
4. Entice people to come back for more!
Every time, I mean every single time an order leaves your restaurant, whether it’s from a call In, pick-up or Uber Eats order, be sure to include some sort of promo with it! Here are a few ideas of coupons you can produce to get things rolling!
1 – Get 10% off when you order directly from our website! (Include website details on the coupon)
2 – Get one FREE freshly squeezed orange juice on your next order when using promo code FREEOJ
3 – Dessert is on us! Spend $15 on your next order and receive a FREE piece of our Famous Chocolate Cake.
We recommend you switch the promo on a bi weekly or monthly basis to keep your customers feeling surprised and wanting more!
To sum it all up…. These times suck! Look. we aren’t reinventing the wheel here! These tactics are at your disposal so please take advantage of them! If you have any questions and would like some guidance in marketing during this pandemic, feel free to book a time slot with us! We look forward to connecting with you!