A Concise Checklist for Reopening Your Restaurant

(1) Offer Safe & Contact-Free Services

Before opening up, it’s crucial that you’re aware of local laws and regulations regarding reopening. If you’re in the US, have a look at the reopening rules your state has put forward.

Start by enforcing a no-contact protocol, so you can reduce interpersonal contact and make your customer experience safe. Here are a few pointers to help you do that:

(2) Use Cashless Methods & For Delivery Survives

For their safety and convenience, enable delivery and payment services that allow customers to pay without cash (such as tableside tablets), as well as choose when and how their order should be delivered.

(3) Offer Disposable Menus

Disposable menus are a great sanitary alternative to traditional menus. They are cost-effective and reduce the likelihood of contamination – buy disposable menus in bulk and recycle them.

(4) Install Plexiglas At the Host Stand or Check-Out

Minimize the risk of contact between the guest and the host or cashier by installing a protective Plexiglas screen at cash registers. This way, there’s always a barrier between your staff and your clientele.

(5) Use Disposable Bottles for Condiments

Take additional precautions by taking off reusable items such as ketchup bottles and salt and pepper shakers. Replace these with condiments in packets that customers can get rid of after touching them.

(6) Allow Limited Entry

It might be wise to open your restaurant to limited capacity to test out the waters and keep customers as far away from each other as possible. Depending on your local regulations, expand restaurant seating to ensure as much space as possible. Additionally, keep customers from congregating in waiting areas by adopting a reservations-only business model.

(7) Protect Your Employees

Be open and transparent with your employees – tell them about the changes in your operations as well as any threats to their safety. Use these additional measures to keep your employees safe:

(8) Provide Safety Gear

Encourage all employees to wear face masks at work – especially around guests. The kitchen staff should have hairnets and gloves at all times when on duty.

(9) Ensure On-Premise Sanitization

By sanitizing appropriately, your staff can reduce the spread of pathogens from restaurant equipment to the food you serve diners. Alcohol-based sanitizers and disposable wipes will be more than enough to maintain hygiene.

(10) Maintain a Cleaning Schedule

Adjust your standard operations procedures to implement a cleaning schedule to sanitize all contact surfaces like tables and chairs, as well as food-contact surfaces. Moreover, you can maintain a routine for frequent hand washing and make it part of your renewed work culture when you reopen. 

(11) Ask Staff to Do Their Bit

You can delegate sanitization tasks between staff members so that responsibilities are spread out evenly.

(12) Hire Specialists If Necessary

Take every initiative you can to disinfect and sanitize your restaurant. However, if you feel like you require additional help or your premises are too big for your team to handle, you can hire specialists to help.

(13) Have a Marketing Plan for Reopening

Given the unpredictable nature of circumstances today – and for your team to enjoy a successful reopening – you need to promote and market the event.

Your audience may or may not know that you are back in business and ready to cater to their cravings. A solid marketing plan can renew consumer confidence in your brand and inform customers about the services you are providing.  

Here’s what your marketing plan should do:

(14) Inform That Your Restaurant Is Now Open For Business

The chances are that your patrons are tired sitting around at their homes.

So send out emails, revamp your social media pages, put up the new menu and deals on your website, and do all else you can to announce the reopening of your restaurant.

Highlight your takeout options, revised opening hours as well as curbside pick-up and contactless delivery options.

Be sure that your graphic designs are professional and on-brand. If you lack a dedicated graphic designer, there are a number of services that help create flyers, posters, handouts and menus on the fly.

More than that, assure your guests that you’re taking every measure within your means to provide them with safe, clean food. One way to build their trust is to market your cooking processes, packaging, and delivery options and that you’re taking risks seriously. 

(15) Enlighten Guests on How You Provide a Safe Dining Experience 

Some people will have a difficult time trusting outdoor spaces, too.

Openly communicate the actions you are taking to make your venue safe. Reassure customers that you regularly engage in all of the fore-mentioned safety precautions and disinfect surfaces often. 

Consequently, market your dining experience so that customers know your venue is a haven from the outside world. Wiping down surfaces after each guest leaves. Hang up signage boasting your committed sanitizing efforts.

Make caution part of your branding and incorporate the language on your website and your booking flow. Broadcast your efforts on social media – your customers need to view your dine-in venue as a place of retreat – not a war zone.

(16) Pick the Right Marketing Channels

At this point, you don’t have the facility to rely on cash reserves to splurge on marketing. Social media platforms are an excellent tool for budget-friendly marketing, and you can do it on your own.

Experiment with design programs to create event announcement posters to use for your digital marketing initiatives. Social media post templates for reopening are easily customizable and you can use them to promote your reopening in quick and creative ways.

(17) Publicize Your Restaurant’s Reopening

• Use Food Directories

The best way to bring in more customers, especially for your relaunch, is for your customers to find them online. For this to happen, you should list your restaurant on food directories.

Take the time to set yourself upon each of these:

Potential guests can explore your offerings and easily keep track of their favorites. Moreover, you can notify them with updates on your services and manage your social media more efficiently. Software like Taphunter and Allmenus also simplify pricing calculations and inventory reviews at a glance.

• Get Foodies to Talk About Your Reopening

Entice food enthusiasts and bloggers who may have an interest in your offerings to visit your venue and try out your food. Provided that you offer a stellar experience, you can ask them to review your menu online or leave you a kind note on your website.

Positive reviews have a significant impact on an individual’s opinion on your service.

• Spread the Word On Popular Foodies Facebook Groups

Facebook has many groups that bring together food enthusiasts from across the globe, giving you opportunities to market your brand and target the right customers.

Joining popular Facebook groups such as Artisan Bread Bakers, Kefir Group or the Food Bloggers Central can help you improve awareness of your restaurant, its services, and how your business is enabling a safe experience by engaging with these groups.

A simple way you can do this is to type topics or keywords into the group page’s search box, where you can view the kinds of questions your target audiences have regarding the Food and Beverage Industry. 

Respond to those that allow you to demonstrate your industry expertise, and build authority within these community spaces. Share an insightful blog post or redirect members to your services. Facebook food groups are powerful because they enable you to target customers and prospects with laser-like precision.

• Online Ads

Ad campaigns on Facebook, Waze, Instagram, and other social media networks are a great way to promote the reopening at nominal costs and amplify your reach. 

Moreover, now is a great time to experiment with paid advertising on digital platforms such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook. These platforms enable you to promote your business based on your audience’s demographics, such as gender and region, as well as hobbies and interests.

• Hang Flyers & Banners Locally Announcing Your Relaunch

Flyers and Banners are one of the most cost-effective ways to market your restaurant. That said, it depends on you promoting a strong message that resonates with your customers. Combined with creative design, you can quickly gain your audience’s attention.

Of course, it is critical that you distribute them in places where your audience is most likely to notice them so that you can yield a good response.

• Promote Your Restaurant’s Gift Cards

65% of gift card recipients spend 38% more than the value of the gift card.

The revenue from gift cards will help you keep your business afloat, allowing you to make use of cash now rather than waiting for customers to come in.

Sell more gift cards: look back at some of the past promotions you handled with gift cards and offer the same or similar deals to your customers.

• In Conclusion

Taking measures to protect your employees and customers, marketing to highlight this fact, making use of online ads and directories to broaden your reach are some of the many strategies you can use to keep your eatery running in post-pandemic restaurant industry. The crisis has hit restaurants hard, and the consequences are substantial, but smart business strategies can weather this storm.