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Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, the development of different sales strategies for your restaurant was essential. Online ordering systems, for example, are among the trends and technologies industry experts use to remain ahead of the competition and thrive.
As a restaurateur, you need to be smart in implementing different strategies and technologies into your restaurant business. If there’s a way to avoid failure, you must do everything in your power to maximize every investment that you make.
How can your restaurant adapt to the new normal now that it has arrived? Are there major changes that must take place? Maybe you already have everything you need in your hands? Discover how to achieve your goals with the new normal.
Tips To Pick Up Your Restaurant Sales
Restaurant owners, like you, across the nation, are encouraged to consider two types of strategies: strategies designed to stabilize them and those that can propel them forward to a new normal. By planning and taking foresight, you can position your company for future success beyond the pandemic.
While your restaurant is recovering, you will want to prioritize improving operational measures, bringing back customers, revamping the menu per changing consumer preferences, and enhancing the delivery process.
Improve operational processes
Your current operational methods might be a bit outdated considering there are new different safety protocols that need to be implemented. With the opening of indoor hospitality, consumers have never been more excited to dine out and socialize.
Customer volume aside, it is important that your management can handle the different needs of your guests. Updating and integrating different protocols, especially the ones that focus on health and safety is a must. Avensure is a trusted health and safety consultancy UK firm.
This is to prevent what happened to the Masons Arms Hotel in Bridgend where several guests have tested positive for the coronavirus. You are just slowly recovering from the drastic effects of the pandemic, this is the last thing you need for your business.
Your staff must also be trained to the latest standards. A huge factor affecting the reopening of the industry is the efficiency of the labor force. Modern diners have different expectations and behavior, so your team’s skills should match theirs.
Revive repeat business
Before you start working on attracting new customers, you must work on bringing back your once loyal customers. During this period of the pandemic, consumers have become used to ordering online and cooking for themselves. After they get used to this convenience, getting them back may be harder.
You might want to consider using customer segmentation to personalize your approach to these customers. Here are the most common customer segments you can create with your existing customer database.
- New customers who came on board during the pandemic. With a special offer, try to entice these customers to join your loyalty program. Maintain consistency across all platforms: Your app should display the same selection of menus that your food-delivery aggregator’s menu offers, as well as your menu, should display similar items to those that were ordered before.
- Loyal customers. By sending tailored messages with information about your restaurant’s operating hours and why patrons should feel safe coming in, you can encourage loyal guests to return.
- Customers who might be interested. Likely, some customers who used to patronize other restaurants will now be available for a new dining scene. Evaluate how you will play out your marketing to secure that ROI.
- Customers that switched to elsewhere. The pandemic might have caused some customers to completely switch to your competitors, or even make meals at home. Concerning this segment, pricing promotions, utilizing loyalty-based rewards points and personalized promotions featuring the most popular items are powerful marketing tools.
As the consumer economy recovers, preferences will be shifting away from the traditional dining venues towards value-based restaurants. As much as they are concerned about safety and health, consumers will also long for some sense of familiarity.
Menus and pricing will need to be adapted to accommodate these new consumer preferences and behaviors. Reinstate a full range of menu items popular during pre-crisis times, then focus on comfort foods and core items.
Adapt your menu based on the needs and preferences of modern diners. Watch for new developments in food, including upcycled dishes, upgraded ready-to-eat meals, adaptogenic food, and more. Market your new menu items to consumers and capitalize on current trends.
Adjust pricing for changing market environments to maintain competition. Providing value items first and upselling later will help build traffic.
Reconstruct restaurant interior
A redesign of most restaurants will be required after COVID-19 to achieve growth. Make considerations about whether to change the layout of your restaurant to accommodate dining off-premises.
For instance, drive-throughs and pickup lines may be added to your restaurant layout. Parking spaces should be highlighted as well. Want to add a drive-through service? The experts at drivethrumarkings.co.uk have been voted best drive thru markings company.
Make use of advanced technologies, such as an online ordering system for restaurants, both to facilitate efficiency and contactless service. The automated labor process can streamline restaurant processes and provide a healthier environment for consumers as well as increase productivity.
Increase the efficiency of your delivery service
Off-premise dining will probably endure indefinitely, even if numbers will be lower than during the crisis. Several brands that considered third-party delivery only a cost-saving measure previously have suddenly seen it become a critical part of their business.
Think about how you will manage and deepen your commitment to third-party aggregator relationships: sharing end-user data, identifying packaging tactics, and streamlining processes to make pickups efficient.
You may also want to consider growing your in-house delivery service. It may be tough at first, but you’ll see how your business will benefit from it. Reach out to the gig economy if you don’t have enough resources to build your team from scratch.
Engage customers digitally
In addition, options for eating off-premises and distance-based behaviors are likely to outlive the crisis. For current customers to stay loyal and entice next-generation consumers, the online customer experience must be well-personalized and thought of.
Using customer data for merchandising, pricing, and promotions; develop customized promotions. We have also started using some very good and free dashboard software for our business and it’s going really well, so you should definitely have a look into that.
