How to organize a fast food restaurant in COVID times

How to organize a fast food restaurant in COVID times

The “new normal” comes along with numerous transformations for many sectors that involve rethinking their new business model in order to survive.

Changing a few elements to organize your fast food business during the pandemic is an opportunity for renewal regardless of the difficult times the catering business is experiencing.

Below, we will give you some guidelines on how to create an opportunity to create value and drive a growth adjusted to the prevailing uncertainty.

1. Offer delivery services

The growth of the so-called “take-away” has grown dramatically in recent years. Along with take away, delivery or home service has stood out as an added value for the catering business.

Delivery seemed to be reserved for pizza chains or very specific establishments. But nowadays, it has become a key factor for increasing retail sales in almost any restaurant, and even for preserving the survival of many.

In terms of business figures there is still no conclusive data, but what initially pointed to a 22% growth in the sector since 2019 has become, due to the pandemic, a 60% increase in delivery sales.

Along with take away, delivery or home service has stood out as a plus for the foodservice sector. The evidence is in the deserted streets of cities, which are inhabited by delivery drivers at all times.

Their boom has been so notorious that companies such as Glovo, Uber Eats, Just Eat or Deliveroo had a 200% increase in the number of users.

Online ordering: digitalization is the key

The growth rate of restaurants that offer delivery through online platforms has increased tremendously, since consumers are literally hungry for this consumption model.

At all levels and in all sectors, the technological revolution has become a tough competitor for traditional sales models.

It is very difficult to resist having food brought to your home through a single click in your Smartphone while you relax watching your favorite show on the couch.

Today’s consumers will seek to solve their needs and desires through online resources. Therefore, digitalization is key to organizing a fast food restaurant during the pandemic.

How to digitize a delivery business

Bet on new technologies by communicating with your potential customers through social media and automate the ordering process through delivery apps.

Although it may seem redundant, in order for fast food restaurants to deliver orders successfully, they have to build an agile system. Burying yourself under calls and orders is synonymous with short-term failure.

Automating order flow and using POS integration software is a solution for which Orquest will help you provide the best service to your customers, maximizing your sales and profits.

At Orquest, we use advanced mathematical models to reduce your company’s costs and maximize delivery sales through a customized diagnostic analysis designed exclusively for the foodservice industry.

Tools such as a workforce software, adapted to the new business model, are able to predict, calculate and plan the specific needs of your business.

2. Redesign a marketing strategy

Our new life model is composed of changes in many habits and routines. The new normal seems to have arrived to stay for a while, so it is convenient to develop a market research and know the products that are not offered in your area.

• Adapt your fast food menu and offer it online. It is not necessary to have a culinary vade mecum that takes half a lifetime to look at and in which you do not finish deciding what you want. A reduced menu and a star product will be your best bet.

• Be transparent. Show yourself to your clientele. Organizing a fast food restaurant can be just as interesting as managing an establishment that holds a Michelin Star.
• Take advantage of your customers’ curiosity. Show them. Videos, podcasts, anything goes to show your clientele the delicacies of your establishment. Just because it’s fast food doesn’t mean you’re selling junk food.

• The best personal brand is your offering. Create your own hashtags and direct your gastronomic selection to the ideal sector for your restaurant. Your product is your best presentation card. Fast yes, but of good quality. That’s why you are better than your competition.

• Update your product offerings, and the information on your website and your social networks. Manage a very visual and specialized marketing campaign.

#stayhome

Since the beginning of the pandemic, this hashtag has been the common denominator of all households.

A good way to organize a fast food restaurant during Coronavirus times is to create your own gastronomic #stayhome offerings.

Sell food with unique recipes, quality ingredients, special house sauces, offer everything suited to enjoy home. Advertise your #stayhome pack as a commitment to responsibility and good food. Quick, but good.

Good quality and healthy food are not at odds with the concept of fast food. Restaurants that offer healthy options have a big opportunity in the delivery business, and higher possibilities of increasing sales.

3. Offer meal kits

Do your customers want to enjoy the special burger of the week “flavors of the world”? Well, nothing like delivering the kit of ingredients needed to cook it so they wake up their chef inside.

Food kits allow consumers to cook dishes with prepared ingredients. In this type of business subscriptions can be offered, where kits are delivered to your customers on a weekly basis.

You can even offer a comparison of how much that recipe would cost by buying the ingredients in a supermarket in generic quantities and how much they cost in your mealkit.

This will allow you to free up your stock and continue billing during these uncertain times.

4. Correct task and resource planning

Correct task planning contributes to the streamlining of activities, as well as to avoid overstaffing when the number of tasks is not sufficient.

We must bear in mind that after the coronavirus, safety measures for both customers and employees are essential, and this must be part of the staff planning so that social distancing between employees can be maintained.

On the other hand, think about optimizing your food resources. Any restaurant tends to have surpluses. A good option to avoid surpluses is to sell them at very low prices before they are no longer worth it. Better to recover the benefits of the purchase than to throw money and food away, right?

Another solution adopted by the restaurants of the future is to make accurate demand forecasts with the help of retail planning software. This reduces waste and minimizes unnecessary costs.