The Three Simple Things Restaurants Must Do Yesterday to Survive The Apocalypse

Over the last week, we talked to each and every one of our customers by phone. In almost every case, restaurants and their staffs are hurting, yes, but some less than others. Quite simply, we were able to quickly put customers into buckets, depending on how they were reacting to the circumstances, which we refer to as The Do Nothings, The Do Somethings, and The Do Awesomes.   These buckets are about the same size, with around one-third of the folks we spoke to doing nothing, or shuttering their business completely; another one-third doing somethings, but without a true plan or strategy; and another one-time, moving as quickly as they could, embracing new technology and processes, and changing the entirety of their business in real-time in order to survive. This last group, The Do Awesomes, are all taking key actions are showing tangible sales that provide the best opportunity for long-term survivability. In fact, these successful businesses all share three things:

1.   Awesome Signage

It might seem obvious, but the ratio of restaurants who are lamenting slow carry out business and restaurants who have terrible/poor/ugly/hard-to-read or non-existent signage is just about one-to-one. The way in which society is deciding on food choices today is a paradigm shift from yesterday – a change that has been coming slowly, but with the global shutdown afoot, has been expedited. The shift to hyper-local choices means that the more visibility you have at the roadside, the more business you’ll have curbside. 

I’m sad to admit this, but when I was a kid, I liked to sell Kool-aid on the road in front of my house. In those days, I didn’t understand the phrase, “Location, Location, Location,” which is to say, I lived on a cul-de-sac, and traffic was a minimum. I thought of myself as a smart, enterprising young man, so I rode my bike, training wheels and all, around the neighborhood and posting some signage. The problem? I used a 4” x 6” postcard piece of paper and attached it to lampposts.  As you could imagine, business never picked up at the Kool-aid-de-Chris stand because no drivers could actually read the signage I spent all afternoon hanging up. 

Do Awesomes know that when planning signage, the first equation to tackle is the sizing of the letters, and wouldn’t you know it, the internet wins again, with the letter sizing calculator here:

https://www.thesignchef.com/letter-sizing-calculator    

Use the “By Traveling Size” calculator to determine how large your text needs to be, and then have your design created from there. 

Speaking of design, we’re offering free graphic design for physical signage through April 15th, 2020. Just 30 minutes with our experts at https://calendly.com/flyght/30minintro and we’ll get you something sexy within 48 hours. 

2.   Awesome Marketing

Signage isn’t the only marketing tool that’s important. Keeping up with social media, Yelp, your website, and local search are all critical tools for marketing a restaurant both in normal times and during a global epidemic. Brandify, a digital marketing agency, reported in November 2019 just how important these four avenues are for success – that almost 80% of consumers use Google Maps for local searches of restaurants, and that around 50% use Yelp, the restaurant website, or Facebook as well. Further, while the majority of those searches occur while the patron is at home, almost 35% of their survey respondents reported to search via Google Maps while driving to find their next food fix. 

There are patrons searching right now for your restaurant, but going to a competitor, or going to the grocery store instead. As a general rule, social media should be tended to daily, preferably with video content. All avenues should be updated with true business hours, and special information regarding your response to the pandemic. Potential customers need to be reassured that your business is open, and their safe at your side. 

Many of these avenues may be uncomfortable for an operator, but it’s more important now than ever, and once this crisis is behind us, your customers aren’t going to just go back to the way it was – the shift to local search will continue, and that’s why through April 15th, 2020, we’re offering free time with our kick-butt social media and search people. Please accept our gift by scheduling 30 minutes with our experts at https://calendly.com/flyght/30minintro to get your digital presence in-line with the reality of today.

3.   Awesome Processes

Good marketing doesn’t mean a damn if the experience doesn’t exceed the expectation set from the marketing process. This is true at anytime, but even more critical during a time of crisis simply because the processes your business must implement are new for both the business and the customer. Curbside carry out is one thing for 10 orders per evening, but it’s something else entirely when it’s 200 orders. 

The process you create depends on a number of things – the size of your parking lot, your square footage in the building, and if you’re delivering or not, among others. There’s no good silver bullet, but there are a number of great examples to get your inspiration moving:

One customer is doing more business than they’ve ever done in the history of the restaurant this week with one carry-out. They’ve implemented online ordering (and offered a discount for ordering online versus by phone), have positioned one staff-member in the parking lot to direct incoming vehicles to specifically numbered parking spaces, which are then relayed inside for quick delivery to the curbside. While the customers wait in their cars, there is a band playing in the parking lot corner to entertain guests and staff as the food is transacted. 

Another coffee shop we visited this week had numbered parking spots, and would accept orders from your car window at a safe distance. Then another staff member would run the purchased goods to the vehicle, always knowing where to go based on the cone in front of the parking space which matched the kitchen ticket.

We saw another restaurant that built a make-shift drive-thru, and if the pick-up food was ready as your vehicle hit the front of the line, it was immediately handed over, otherwise the vehicle was directed to a numbered waiting space. 

Another restaurant without a parking lot had spaces drawn on the sidewalk leading to the door and carry out window, to help people waiting for pickup continue to social distance themselves. In each box were hand drawn words of encouragement, and a guitarist was playing to the line from a safe distance. 

Creating an experience inside a smooth process will keep your customers coming back during this difficult time. Signage, search, and process are the things, crafted together, The Do Awesomes are perfecting. If you’re looking for some guidance on your own process, all you have to do is schedule free time with our experts: https://calendly.com/flyght/30minintro