What will the new normal look like for restaurants? We don’t know when COVID-19 cases will flatten or stay-in-place orders will lift, but there will be a time when Americans can slowly begin to resume regular life activities and dining rooms open again.
Restaurants can take four steps now to prepare for this shift and plan to maximize re-openings to drive buzz, traffic and sales.
- Keep enhanced safety protocols visibly in place: When dining rooms re-open, the stringent guidelines that have been in place to keep employees and guests safe need to be visible to on-premise guests for the foreseeable future. State and local health departments are likely to dictate in-restaurant health and safety procedures – it won’t be up to operators – and these may differ from one jurisdiction to the next. Protocols are likely to include frequent cleaning and sanitizing of all surfaces, glove use, possible use of masks for staff, and reduced dining room seating capacity, at least temporarily, to enable continued social distancing. Steps like these plus basics like sparkling clean restrooms will help put on-premise guests’ minds at ease. Restaurants should communicate about enhanced health practices early and often to both employees and guests, to begin creating confidence even before dining rooms welcome customers again
- Celebrate dining room re-openings: When dining rooms re-open, this will be a moment to celebrate, safely. It’s a chance to thank guests and employees who supported the brand through a tough time, to welcome back employees who may have been furloughed or had hours reduced, and to celebrate the experience of sharing an in-restaurant meal with your significant other or friend. But customers who have been trained to dine off-premise may need to be re-trained to come back inside. Restaurants should plan on-premise promotions, new menu items or LTOs available only in-restaurant, and special offers for loyalty members who dine in. Announce these offers across social media, through direct communication to loyalty members and via earned news stories. Partnerships with influencers who reach your target audiences also can help spread the word – sometimes farther and faster than brands can on their own – through in-restaurant meal giveaways and more.
- Stay engaged in the community: A silver lining of the COVID-19 crisis is the outpouring of community support from brands, business leaders, celebrities and athletes. Our restaurant clients are providing meals for those on the front lines, like health care workers and first responders, and others are supporting kids, supermarket staff and truck drivers. The sense of community is inspiring, and restaurants can help keep it going when the crisis passes by evaluating strategies for community partnerships and philanthropic support. The extended economic consequences of COVID-19 are real, so consider the role your brand can play in helping out. Give back as a long-term community partner, with fundraisers and cause-related marketing.
- Continue to focus on off-premise: Recently, restaurants have had to focus operations and marketing exclusively on quick pick-up, delivery and drive-thru, making off-premise a sustainably stronger business driver. While we all hope for light at the end of this tunnel, experts say we may face a seasonal second wave of COVID-19, with some restrictions returning. Restaurants should use this time to be better prepared if dining rooms must close again. Starting now, evaluate what’s working, from processes to promotions, and analyze what’s driving guest engagement and frequency, so best practices can be activated quickly, if needed. Capture customer data through loyalty sign-ups and the off-premise order process; continue to test optimal combinations of special offers, benefits for loyalty members and incentives to join; and maintain brand messaging around the convenience and ease of the off-premise experience. Then, if we need to transition back to off-premise-only quickly, restaurants will be ready.
Linhart PR has been working with restaurant brands for more than 20 years. If you need help with communications and marketing strategy for COVID-19 or the next phase when your dining rooms re-open, please contact me at kjanhunen@linhartpr.com.
